HIV-1 latent reservoir in co-infections v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of co-infections on the size of the HIV-1 latent reservoir
IRAS ID
162433
Contact name
Ariberto Fassati
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2015/06/67, Data protection registration; B1262 FI0153314, Insurance certificate
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 30 days
Research summary
Drugs keep HIV under control but they do not eliminate the virus, so infected people must take drugs for their lifetime. Patients taking such drugs over a long period of time are at a greater risk of side effects. Thus researchers are looking for a “cure” for HIV. A cure for HIV would involve eliminating the virus entirely from an infected person.
One major obstacle to a cure is that HIV-1 can hide in the memory CD4 cells, becoming invisible to the immune system. HIV-1 can remain dormant in memory CD4 cells, becoming “latent”. The population of CD4 cells carrying a latent HIV-1 is called the “latent reservoir”. Antiretroviral drugs do not hit the latent reservoir. Hence if therapy is interrupted, the virus soon “awakens” from the latent reservoir and restarts the infection process. This prevents a cure.
However, new approaches are being tested to try to eliminate the latent reservoir: the smaller the latent reservoir, the greater the chances of eliminating it. We therefore need to know what may change the size of the reservoir to keep it as small as possible.
We think that people who are co-infected with HIV-1 and the tuberculosis bacterium or helminths might have a larger latent reservoir because such infections change the way the immune system behaves, and this is known to affect the size of the HIV-1 reservoir.
It is important to know if tuberculosis or worms infection make the latent HIV-1 reservoir larger because we will be able to check for such infections and treat them as soon as possible. This will keep the HIV-1 latent reservoir smaller, and improve the chances to eliminate it. If we can eliminate the HIV-1 latent reservoir, we may be able to cure people from HIV-1 infection.
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/1485
Date of REC Opinion
16 Sep 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion