Mass. General Hospital receives Gates Foundation grant to expand HIV control...(maller group of aviremic or elite contro...),Health

Date:3/4/2008

maller group of aviremic or elite controllers, with viral loads less than 50 copies/ml. In 2006 Walker and his colleagues founded the HIV Controllers Study, with a $2.5 million grant from the Mark and Lisa Schwartz Foundation. Through national and international collaborations, they have already recruited nearly 1,000 controllers into the study.

With the new grant from the Gates Foundation, the team plans to expand the study group to 2,000 participants 1,000 elite controllers and 1,000 viremic controllers from around the world. The investigators will compare DNA from these individuals to genetic data from 3,000 people with progressive HIV infection, searching for genetic factors that may be associated with viremic control by sequencing 650,000 SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) sites in each participants genome. The project will also use the latest technology to analyze which immune responses best suppress viral replication and investigate how the virus evolves to escape the immune system, additional information that can contribute to vaccine strategies.

Potential participants in the study are HIV-positive adults aged 18 to 75, not currently on anti-HIV medication, who have maintained viral loads less than 2,000 copies/ml for at least one year. Participation involves having a single blood sample taken, which can be done by participants local health care providers. Additional information about the study, including a list of participating institutions and more detailed instructions for enrolling and providing samples, is available at www.HIVcontrollers.org, by e-mailing elitecontrollerstudy@partners.org or calling 617 726-5536. All information gathered will be kept confidential.

Since other approaches to vaccine development have not been successful, uncovering how some humans are able to coexist with the virus without developing AI
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Contact: Sue McGreevey smcgreevey@partners.org 617-724-2764 Massachusetts General Hospital Source:Eurekalert

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