Search Abstracts

Background Mitochondria are crucial for cellular energy metabolism and immune regulation, but their role in spontaneous HIV control remains unclear. We hypothesized that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in mitochondrial-related genes influence HIV control. Methods SNP-set enrichment analysis was conducted to determine if SNPs in autosomal mitochondrial-related genes are enriched in HIV-control associated SNPs compared to…

Background In people living with HIV on suppressive ART, the latent reservoir is composed of archived viral variants that are either sensitive or resistant to autologous neutralizing antibodies (aNAbs), with the latter capable of causing rebound following treatment interruption. We hypothesized ART-free virologic control might be achieved if aNAbs developed to neutralize all inducible, replication-competent…

Background Understanding the sensitivity of viral envelopes to broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) encoded within the reservoir is of major importance in evaluating efficacy in analytical treatment interruption (ATI) trials using bNAbs as an intervention in people living with HIV (PLWH). BNAbs have been shown to impact viral load setpoint during interruption of antiretroviral therapy (ART)…

Background Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) are highly susceptible to severe COVID-19 due to chronic immunosuppressive treatment aimed at preventing organ rejection, along with associated comorbidities. Their vaccine responses are often diminished compared to the general population. Identifying a biomarker that reflects immune status and predicts vaccination response is crucial for optimizing vaccination strategies. Torque…

Background Post-treatment controllers (PTCs) of HIV control viremia to low or undetectable levels following discontinuation of ART. Previous studies have suggested a lack of association between ex vivo HIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses and post-treatment control. Here we extended beyond ex vivo evaluations to assess the proliferative capacity of HIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses in…

Background The combination of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and checkpoint receptor blockade may be an attractive strategy and to enhance immune responses, reduce persistent reservoirs and promote control of viral replication in people living with HIV-1 (PWH). Expression of inhibitory receptors TIGIT and KLRG1 has been linked to dysfunctional natural killer (NK) and CD8+ T cells,…

Background HIV is a highly mutable virus, therefore a vaccine that induces protective, broadly-neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) before sexual debut is critical to eliminate the ~410,000 new infections annually among adolescents worldwide. Recent work has established that children living with HIV develop bnAbs earlier and at a higher frequency than adults. In this study we compared the…

Background Rhesus macaques (RM), Macaca mulatta, are one of the main nonhuman primate models for the testing of vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics. Macaques, like humans, have high and a low affinity alleles of FcγRIIA (CD32A) which is expressed on macrophages, dendritic cells and other antigen presenting cells. The polymorphism in FcγRIIA potentially influences the ‘vaccinal…

Background Durable antiviral therapy (ART)-free remission from HIV-1 will likely require a robust and targeted T-cell response to limit viral reactivation. Serial vaccination with different viral vectors expressing the same immunogen has induced higher T-cell frequencies than homologous vaccination regimens.  Methods The CM study is a double-blind, randomized, phase I vaccine trial which recruited people…

Background Anti-PD-1 immunotherapy (API) can potentially reverse T-cell exhaustion, reinvigorate HIV-specific T-cell responses, and reduce the HIV reservoir in people living with HIV (PLHIV). API responsiveness is not direct associated with PD-1 expression on T-cells, suggesting that receptor heterogeneity might influence therapeutic outcomes. Therefore, we aimed to assess 1. whether PD-1 expression varies among T-cells…