On The Road Toward an HIV Cure

Presenter: Franoise BarrŽ-Sinoussi

Published: July 2014

Age: 18-22 and upwards

Views: 1341 views

Tags: aids;hiv;retro;viral;retroviral

Type: Lectures

Source/institution: Lindau-Nobel

Since the first cases of AIDS in 1981 and the identification of its etiological agent in 1983, much progress has been made in both the development of tools to prevent and treat HIV infection and the access to these tools. In particular, the wide array of antiretroviral treatments that now exists has considerably transformed the face of the infection from a lethal disease to a chronic condition. Today, thanks to unprecedented international efforts, the more than 10s of millions of people living with HIV have access to these life-saving treatments in resource-limited countries. However, the sustainability of these life-long therapies is a real challenge both for the patients who have to meticulously take them each day and for the global economy considering their cost. Indeed, these antiretroviral treatments are not curative as HIV latently persists in reservoir cells and in many compartments of the host. Novel therapeutic strategies that would cure HIV infection or at least induce a sustainable remission in patients without the need to further take medication are thus an absolute necessity. The increased knowledge of HIV reservoirs and of the mechanisms of persistence as well as reports of proof of concept studies, have generated great optimism in the scientific community, which now believe that sustainable remission of HIV infection is an achievable goal. In 2010, the International AIDS Society launched the _Towards an HIV Cureî initiative with the aim to mobilize the scientific community and accelerate research on this topic, which has since then become a priority in the HIV science agenda.