UCSF symposium considers biomedical approaches to HIV/AIDS ...( New and emerging biomedical approach...),Health

New and emerging biomedical approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention will be the focus of a daylong symposium on February 24 sponsored by the UCSF-Gladstone Institute for Virology and Immunology Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies.

"Defining new biomedical approaches capable of curbing the global HIV epidemic is a high priority. This symposium will provide a timely overview of the most promising advances," said Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD, director of the Gladstone Institute for Virology and Immunology (GIVI) and co-director of the UCSF-GIVI CFAR.

Use of antiretrovirals for HIV prevention in uninfected individuals at high risk for infection, herpes suppression, male circumcision and the successful treatment of HIV-infected individuals with antiretrovirals are some of the approaches that will be under discussion at the symposium.

"With the setbacks in HIV vaccine development and a still expanding epidemic, we are forced to consider all options to prevent HIV transmission. Along with ongoing and critical efforts to understand and reduce behaviors of risk, we are deeply interested in how biologic barriers may be employed in effective prevention," said Paul A. Volberding, MD, UCSF-GIVI CFAR co-director and professor and vice-chair, UCSF Department of Medicine.

"Antiretroviral therapies are extremely potent and convenient in reducing HIV replication and might be part of a comprehensive effort to couple treatment with prevention. In selected situations, antiretroviral therapy may be used solely as prevention in persons otherwise unable to avoid potential exposure to infection. These and other topics promise to generate a lively and informative debate," added Volberding.

In addition to examining biomedical approaches, the symposium will address topics related to the conduct of clinical trials investigating these approaches and issues associated with implementation and scale-up of biome
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