Research Project
9736417
NIAID is committed to research necessary to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic and in finding new and more effective immune based therapies that complement antiretroviral drug combinations (cART). HIV prevention vaccines are designed to address outcomes of exposure in uninfected persons, i.e. acquisition of virus or attenuation of viral load when infection occurs. Thus far, such vaccines have not demonstrated therapeutic efficacy when used in infected subjects. Thus the need exists for innovative therapeutic biological products that work in infected persons. Recent research has also identified numerous anti-HIV neutralizing antibodies with properties that suggest they may be useful as therapeutic agents. These antibodies have useful and novel properties including potency, broad ranges of neutralization, and other antibody-mediated effector functions. Additional research indicates certain antibodies may be engineered to improve binding specificity, potency, or antibody effector function. There is also heightened interest in the possibility of HIV eradication or sustained remission based on one apparent HIV cure due to therapeutic bone marrow transplant, and one apparent cure due to immediate and aggressive antiretroviral therapy in a newborn. There is also a specific interest in therapeutic anti-HIV vaccine, anti-HIV antibody products, or other immune-based anti-HIV products being part of a cure armamentarium to be tested as part of HIV sustained suppression/eradication human clinical trials to determine safety and efficacy.
