Wistar Institute and its partners receive HIV treatment research grant to test new immunotherapies

Wistar Institute and its partners receive HIV treatment research grant to test new immunotherapies -

The Wistar Institute is pleased to announce that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a nearly $ 23 million Martin Delaney Collaboratory for issuing cure HIV research at BEAT HIV: Delaney Collaboratory to cure HIV-1 infection in combination immunotherapy (BEAT HIV Delaney), a consortium of top HIV researchers led by co PIs Luis J. Montaner, DVM, D.Phil. , director of the HIV-1 Immunopathogenesis laboratory at Wistar Institute Vaccine Center and James L. Riley, PhD , Professor research associate at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

BEAT HIV Delaney Project based in Philadelphia is one of six grants from the Delaney initiative, joining a very select group of teams to advance global efforts aimed at the develop a remedy against the US HIV. The five-year award promotes a partnership of preeminent over 30 major HIV researchers at The Wistar Institute, the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia FIGHT, Rockefeller University, VA San Diego Healthcare System, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Utah working with government, non-profit, and industry partners to test combinations of several novel immunotherapies in new pre-clinical research and clinical trials.

with 37 million people currently living with HIV worldwide and 17 million antiretroviral therapy reception, Martin Delaney Collaboratory cure for HIV research initiative reflects the interest in seeking treatment of HIV that has grown into a global priority over the last five years and follows the call of President Obama to increase research HIV treatment.

"stigma, economic burden on society, pressure on health care resources, and pure toll on human life throughout the world makes finding a cure an absolute priority," Montaner said. "Together, we rely on established efforts of our teams to go forward and make the next stages of transformation which bring us an HIV cure."

Three Pillars Research
integration three distinct areas of study objectives BEAT HIV Delaney project are to investigate where HIV hides after clinical strategies and test new treatment for a cure for HIV eliminating the hidden virus. The first area of ​​study or "pillar" will determine where and how HIV hides so that researchers can better assess whether the proposed clinical strategies can eradicate the virus. This pillar connects three research teams will measure HIV in the body, how HIV persists after treatment, access new areas in the body that have not been studied before where HIV can hide, and distinguish HIV by "fingerprinting" or "barcoding" to determine the fate of each infected cell. The research team BEAT HIV Delaney plans to develop clear criteria for evaluating the reduction of the virus beyond what is measured in the clinic.

The second pillar focuses on boosting the immune system with which we are all born (innate immunity) through a combination immunotherapy approach using highly potent antibodies against HIV with interferon pegylated alpha 2b. The researchers plan to conduct the first human clinical trial combining these two treatment strategies (which were tested separately and showed activity in reducing HIV in humans) with the hope that the innate immune system boosted power with unique antibodies to target cells infected with HIV will achieve greater reductions in HIV than seen previously. In addition, researchers will seek to develop new DNA-based delivery systems that can make administering HIV treatment easier and more effective by transfusions.

The third pillar will bring together two promising gene therapy strategies independently tested in humans, with the goal of engineering, growth and administration of killer cells which are entitled only to find and kill cells infected with HIV. The proposed gene therapy strategy is based on the success of small human trials of killer T cells (chimeric Antigen Receptor [CAR] T cell therapy). Previous studies have shown that killer T cells can be generated and administered safely. The research team will repeat the studies and for the first time to save the new killer cells to attack by HIV when "activated" by removing the CCR5 protein. The HIV virus needs this protein to infect and kill the killer cells, removing it can "protect" killer cells so they can continue to proliferate and kill cells infected with HIV. The ability of cells not to be affected by HIV in the absence of CCR5 has been shown clinically, but this strategy has not yet been attached to the gene therapy in the manufacture of killer cells.

"The results of this trial are expected to show for the first time that the long-term effects of these killer cells can be looking and the eradication of HIV," said Riley.