Special AIDS research and therapy collection

Last week, a special issue of the Journal AIDS and research therapy was published, highlighting the contribution of Canadian scientists in HIV therapy and research. Eric J Arts was editor in chief, and many CanCURE members contributed in this issue. The idea came together in December 2016 at the Canadian HIV vaccine meeting. This reunion shed light on the level of contribution of Canadian scientists to the HIV vaccine effort, as well as the engagement of the Canadian Government (match funding from the Gates Foundation). Dr. Michael Grant (Memorial) and Charu Kaushic (McMaster) suggested publishing a series of review articles highlighting the role of Canadian scientists in HIV vaccine-related research. This collection reflects the excellence of Canadian HIV-vaccine research, who are top HIV scientists in the world.

List of articles from CanCURE members:

>>RNA flow cytometric FISH for investigations into HIV immunology, vaccination and cure strategies (Baxter AE, Niessl J, Morou A, Kaufmann DE)

>>Development of targeted adjuvants for HIV-1 vaccines (Lui J, Ostrowski M)

>>The biology of how circumcision reduces HIV susceptibility: broader implication for the prevention field (Prodger JL, Kaul R)

>>Potential contribution of gut microbiota and systemic inflammation on HIV vaccine effectiveness and vaccine design (Routy JP and Mehraj V)

>>Preventing HIV infection without targeting the virus: how reducing HIV target cells at the genital tract is a new approach to HIV prevention (Lajoie J, Mwangi L, Fowke KR)

>>Link to the full collection

Here is Eric J Arts, on the implication of theses research in HIV cure field: “In general, the immune response induced by a preventative vaccine has many of the same necessary elements as an immune response need to control activated HIV in a shock and kill cure strategy. Unfortunately, we do not fully understand which immune elements are important but certain key responses may control HIV by mechanisms more recently described. For example, the article by Andres Finzi outlines the role of ADCC (antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity) response which likely works equally as well for cure and prevention. Several members of the CanCURE team are pursuing these same immune mechanisms. Also, Jamie Mann provided an article describing the possibility that an HIV vaccine vector can provide both the activation and control of HIV for both "shock" and "kill".”