R01AI170245

Mechanisms of CTL Resistance in HIV Reservoirs - Project Summary/Abstract

Although modern therapies have dramatically improved the outlooks for people living with HIV, they are unable to cure infection, leaving these individuals burdened by a lifelong commitment to antiretroviral (ARV) medication. For any given individual, maintaining lifelong adherence to medication can present substantial challenges. Moreover, many people do not have access to these expensive medications - in particular those living in resource-limited settings.

It would therefore be of tremendous value to develop novel therapies that can either cure HIV infection or drive it into remission (a state where levels of virus remain low or undetectable even when one stops taking ARV medication). One approach to achieving either a cure or remission is to reactivate latent (hidden) 'reservoirs' of virus and harness the immune system to reduce or eliminate these reservoirs.

These 'kick & kill' approaches often focus on cytotoxic T-cells (CTL), which are an arm of the immune system specialized in eliminating virus-infected cells. While the 'kick & kill' strategy has shown promise in in vitro models of latency, it has not yet been effective in clinical trials.

In recent work, we have uncovered an additional barrier to eliminating viral reservoirs by showing that HIV-infected cells are intrinsically resistant to CTL - even when they are forced to show virus to the immune system by latency reversing agents (LRAs). Although this idea of intrinsic resistance to CTL has not been widely considered in the context of HIV, it is well known as a factor that limits therapeutic efficacy in cancer.

In this grant application, we propose to leverage cutting-edge technologies to identify novel mechanisms by which target cells resist elimination by CTL. These approaches are expected to yield a large number of 'hits', for which we will perform high-resolution mechanistic characterizations. We will then study samples from people living with HIV to determine which of these mechanisms of resistance play roles in HIV persistence in vivo.

Finally, we will directly test whether therapies targeting this resistance can allow CTL to kill these ex vivo reservoir-harboring cells. We expect that the outcome of our study will be the identification of novel targets for the development of therapies aimed at curing HIV infection or enabling remission. More broadly, we anticipate that the mechanisms identified here will provide fundamental insights into the biology of CTL with implications for cancer and other conditions.

Weill Medical College Of Cornell University

TO ASSIST PUBLIC AND PRIVATE NONPROFIT INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS TO ESTABLISH, EXPAND AND IMPROVE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND RELATED AREAS, TO CONDUCT DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH, TO PRODUCE AND TEST RESEARCH MATERIALS. TO ASSIST PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO CONDUCT DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH, TO PRODUCE AND TEST RESEARCH MATERIALS, TO PROVIDE RESEARCH SERVICES AS REQUIRED BY THE AGENCY FOR PROGRAMS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES, AND CONTROLLING DISEASE CAUSED BY INFECTIOUS OR PARASITIC AGENTS, ALLERGIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC DISEASES AND RELATED AREAS. PROJECTS RANGE FROM STUDIES OF MICROBIAL PHYSIOLOGY AND ANTIGENIC STRUCTURE TO COLLABORATIVE TRIALS OF EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS AND VACCINES, MECHANISMS OF RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS AS WELL AS RESEARCH DEALING WITH EPIDEMIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS OR COMMUNITY POPULATIONS AND PROGRESS IN ALLERGIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC DISEASES. BECAUSE OF THIS DUAL FOCUS, THE PROGRAM ENCOMPASSES BOTH BASIC RESEARCH AND CLINICAL RESEARCH. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM EXPANDS AND IMPROVES PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH. THE SBIR PROGRAM INTENDS TO INCREASE AND FACILITATE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM STIMULATES AND FOSTERS SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. RESEARCH CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARDS SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTISTS DURING THE FORMATIVE STAGES OF THEIR CAREERS. INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS (NRSAS) ARE MADE DIRECTLY TO APPROVE APPLICANTS FOR RESEARCH TRAINING IN SPECIFIED BIOMEDICAL SHORTAGE AREAS. IN ADDITION, INSTITUTIONAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS ARE MADE TO ENABLE INSTITUTIONS TO SELECT AND MAKE AWARDS TO INDIVIDUALS TO RECEIVE TRAINING UNDER THE AEGIS OF THEIR INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAM.

93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) [HHS - NIH]

New York, New York 100654805 United States

Single Zip Code

NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PA-20-185)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 273% from $812,001 to $3,029,527.