2025 has been the most challenging year in the efforts to fight HIV since at least the advent of antiretroviral therapy. In a report on “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response,” released last week ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) described “a global system in shock” by sharply reduced funding from the U.S. and other wealthy nations. Scientifically, for now, progress is ongoing. To mark World AIDS Day, Nature published three independent studies on HIV.
In vaccine development, one might think that targeting multiple epitopes increases the likelihood of improving outcomes. However, when several immunogens are administered together, the immune system does not always generate antibodies against all of them. Two parallel studies have overcome this challenge by using multiple simultaneous immunogens against HIV, effectively triggering various types of broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) precursors in two different preclinical animal models.
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC (MSD) has synthesized new N-oxide derivative targeted activator of cell kill (TACK) compounds acting as Gag polyprotein (HIV-1)/protein Pol dimerization inducers reported to be useful for the treatment of HIV infection.
Globally, over half of people living with HIV are women. But in clinical cure trials, they make up only about 20% of participants. And that gender imbalance is causing researchers to miss out on ways to improve cure strategies. Because women’s immune systems appear to be better at controlling HIV infection in a way that silences the reservoir – the provirus integrated into host cells in infected persons.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded a 5-year $20.8 million grant to a multi-institutional team led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators for advanced preclinical development of a promising experimental HIV vaccine.
Nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitors (NRTTIs) are a novel class of antiretroviral agents that inhibit HIV replication by targeting the viral reverse transcriptase enzyme and specifically blocking its translocation step during DNA synthesis, a critical process in the viral replication cycle.
In August, a press release from HHS announced the cancellation of 22 vaccine research projects based on mRNA, the latest available technology aimed at developing therapies for viral infections, cancer, and genetic conditions. What happens to mRNA innovation when funding dries up? This series explores how reductions in funding could impact mRNA technology, affecting innovation, research and future therapies.
Researchers from the California Institute of Technology and collaborating institutions have developed a novel HIV vaccine candidate, a new germline-targeting Env SOSIP trimer called 3nv.2, that is designed to elicit antibodies targeting three key epitopes on the HIV envelope protein.
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