1 OCTOBER 2021 VOLUME 23 ISSUE 39

We met at a friend’s Super Bowl party more than 10 years ago. I’m no real fan of the sport, although I will check out the fine players on either team. Really, I am only down for a fabulous halftime show. In 2007, Prince did the honors, and his royal badness did not let us down.

A new combination treatment for HIV can strengthen a patient’s immune response against the virus even after they stop taking traditional medications, according to a study published in the journal Science Immunology we co-led at the Amara Lab at Emory Univeristy.

Gilead Sciences Inc. failed to exit a proposed class action alleging it delayed introducing safer HIV drugs, as a Missouri federal court said federal law doesn’t preempt a Missouri man’s consumer protection claims and deemed them adequately pleaded.

GSK said on Tuesday it would develop an HIV treatment with Japan's Shionogi for use in regimens with dosing gaps of three months or more, as the drugmaker seeks to build on the success of its previous long-acting therapies.

For the first time in its 18-year history, the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) will be headed by an African public health leader, according to a report in the New York Times. President Joe Biden plans to appoint John Nkengasong, MD, as head of the federal agency that serves people living with HIV worldwide.

The 23-year-old organization announced today that Toni Newman, currently the interim CEO at the San Francisco-based LGBTQ+ organization LYRIC, will soon be BAI's new interim CEO. BAI also announced Dr. Kemal M. Atkins will serve as its managing director "to help fortify BAI's infrastructure and round out the organization's stellar leadership team." Atkins will serve as a consultant and work on a temporary basis as he solidifies the organization, which is weathering a big change in leadership.

For decades, a successful HIV vaccine has been an elusive concept for scientists and activists. During the last two years, research regarding HIV/AIDS hasn't garnered as much media attention largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But just because it hasn't grabbed as many headlines, doesn't mean it isn't still a prevalent issue today. According to the UNAIDS, in 2020, 1.5 million people around the world were newly infected and 680,000 died due to AIDS-related illnesses.

One of the key obstacles to achieving the UNAIDS goal of zero HIV transmissions by 2030 is the current inability to reliably identify infected but undiagnosed individuals. ... The inability to reliably identify undiagnosed individuals results in suboptimal resource allocation because it is unclear which groups need to be targeted for interventions aimed at harm reduction, increasing awareness about HIV, and improving willingness to test.

Adverse effects (AE) rates each year and over time were lower than the World Health Organization acceptable maximum (2 percent AEs). ZAZIC quality assurance activities ensured guideline adherence, mentored clinicians to MC competency, promoted quality client education and counseling, and improved AE reporting over time. Decreases in AE rates are likely attributed to safety gains and increasing provider experience.

Our Ab-CD4 hybrids induce potent ADCC against infected primary CD4+ T cells and neutralize tier 1 and 2 HIV-1 viruses. Furthermore, competition binding experiments reveal that the observed biological activities rely on both the antibody and CD4 moieties, confirming their cooperativity in triggering conformational rearrangements of Env. Our data indicate the utility of these Ab-CD4 hybrids as antibody therapeutics that are effective in eliminating HIV-1 through the combined mechanisms of neutralization and ADCC.

Findings support the hypothesis that oligo-amenorrhoea and the associated reduced intra-menstrual coitus may mitigate the potential for an increased biological risk of HIV acquisition with DMPA-IM but more evidence is needed.

Three latent classes were identified: Single, Condomless Partners, Single, Multiple Partners, and Serodiscordant Partners. Single, Condomless Partners had the highest conditional probabilities of having greater than three male partners, substance use before sex, and receiving an STI diagnosis. Serodiscordant Partners had a 100 percent conditional probability of condomless sex and having a male partner living with HIV. BSMM who initiated PrEP were less likely to be classified as Single, Condomless Partners than Serodiscordant Partners.

Findings highlight the wisdom inherent in PrEP mistrust as a reflection of trans women’s experiences that underscore the broken bonds of trust between communities, researchers and the research enterprise. PrEP mistrust is amplified through perceived paradoxes that suggest to trans women that they are key experimental participants but not target PrEP users outside of research settings.

As countries refine national tuberculosis programmes and strategies to end the tuberculosis epidemic, the excess burden experienced by males is important. Interventions are needed to actively communicate, especially to men, the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. These interventions should occur in parallel with efforts to minimise excess HIV burden among women in the highest HIV burden countries that are contributing to excess HIV and tuberculosis coinfection burden for females.

HIV-1 infection and its progression to AIDS remains a significant global health challenge, particularly for low-income countries. Developing a vaccine to prevent HIV-1 infections has proven to be immensely challenging with complex biological acquisition and infection, unforeseen clinical trial disappointments, and funding issues. This paper discusses important landmarks of progress in HIV-1 vaccine development, various vaccine strategies, and clinical trials.

In this study, we show that treating human primary cervical epithelial cells with MPA led to a reduction in lysosomal activity. This reduction caused an increase in the intracellular HIV-1 accumulation and, consequently, an increase in viral release. Our study uncovers a novel mechanism by which MPA enhances HIV-1 release in primary cervical epithelial cells, thus providing vital information for HIV intervention and prevention.

Here, we provide a brief history for the HIV vaccine field, with the most recent disappointments and advancements. We also provide an update on current passive immunity trials, testing proof of the concept of the most clinically advanced broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for HIV prevention.