Progress of HIV research highlights in January 2020

January 31, 2020 / bioun / - -- human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) virus, is a virus that causes human immune system defects In 1983, HIV was first discovered in the United States It is a lentivirus that infects cells of the human immune system It is a retrovirus HIV destroys the T lymphocyte of human body, and then blocks the process of cellular immunity and humoral immunity, leading to the paralysis of the immune system, which leads to the spread of various diseases in human body, and ultimately leads to AIDS Due to the rapid variation of HIV, it is difficult to produce specific vaccine, so far there is no effective treatment, which poses a great threat to human health Since the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic has claimed more than 34 million lives According to the statistics of the World Health Organization (who), it is estimated that 36.9 million people around the world were infected with HIV in 2017, of which only 59% of those infected with HIV received antiretroviral therapy (Art) So far, HIV is still one of the biggest public health challenges in the world, so it is urgent to study the function of HIV in depth to help researchers develop new therapies that can effectively combat the disease In order to prevent the massive replication of virus from damaging the immune system, people with HIV need to take art every day or even for life Although it has been proved that art can effectively inhibit the onset of AIDS, but such drugs are expensive, time-consuming and labor-consuming and have serious side effects There is an urgent need to find a cure for HIV infection What are the major HIV studies or findings in the coming January? Bio Valley editor combed the news about HIV research reported by Bio Valley this month for you to read 1 Lancet HIV: a new study found that HIV "hot spots" are not necessarily the main driver of new infections doi: 10.1016/s2352-3018 (19) 30378-9 in a new study, researchers from Imperial College of technology and other research institutions found that the high prevalence areas of HIV known as "hot spots" do not necessarily promote the epidemic in a broader population The related research results were published online in the lancet HIV Journal on January 14, 2020, under the title of "quantifying HIV transmission flow between high-precision hotspots and surrounding communities: a population-based study in Rakai, Uganda" Picture from lancet HIV, 2020, DOI: 10.1016/s2352-3018 (19) 30378-9 The study was conducted in a "hot spot" fishing community along Lake Victoria in Uganda, where about 40% of the population is infected with HIV, making it one of the most HIV infected hot spots in the world The researchers mapped how the disease was spread between these hot fishing communities and larger inland communities with much lower HIV prevalence Contrary to expectations, they found that more HIV infections were caused by low HIV infection rates in inland communities rather than in HIV hotspots "Our findings suggest that the dynamics of HIV disease (i.e., AIDS) are not as pronounced as they seem," said Dr Oliver ratmann, lead author of the paper and a researcher in the Department of mathematics at Imperial University of technology "We suggest that hot spots should not be equated with or stigmatized as people who cause HIV transmission in Africa." However, these researchers also cautioned that this is only a case study, and similar studies in other regions may reveal different patterns They are now repeating the study further north of Lake Victoria to test the reliability of the findings 2 Nature: scientists explore strategies to end the global HIV epidemic doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1841-8 as new infectious diseases continue to emerge around the world, researchers have not forgotten the enemies that have existed for many years, and redoubled their efforts to eliminate them For HIV and the resulting immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), they have begun to find a cure Thumbi ndung'u of the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, Joseph M McCune of the bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Steven g Deeks of the University of California, San Francisco recently published an article titled "why and where an HIV curve is needed and how it might be achieved" in the journal Nature, assessing the potential drug pipeline for HIV eradication Pipeline) Their goal is simple: to highlight why healing is needed, where it is needed, and how it might be achieved An important conclusion of the three researchers is that many HIV cure studies are being conducted in countries where HIV / AIDS patients are not dominant in demographics "Cure research is still concentrated in academic medical centers in countries with low HIV burden and abundant resources," Deeks wrote He, ndung'u and McCune argue that cutting edge innovation must take into account the needs and economic conditions of those who need it most 3 Nature: new research helps fight HIV and HBV doi: 10.1038/s42003-019-0706-x there are more than 1 million HIV infected people in the United States In a new study, researchers from the University of Florida School of medicine in the United States have for the first time determined how two widely used antiviral drugs inhibit the virus The discovery is expected to open up new and more effective treatment options for more than 36 million people infected with HIV and other people suffering from chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the world The related research results were recently published in the Journal of communications biology The title of the paper is "inducing molecular interactions of l-nuclei with HIV-1 reverse transcription and mechanism of M184V caused drug resistance" In the paper, co-author Zucai Suo, a professor at the University of Florida School of medicine and colleagues, also provided the key to understanding how a single HIV-1 mutation can make the anti HIV drugs emtricitabine and lamivudine ineffective These drugs earn billions of dollars a year in sales for the companies that make them, but the proportion of patients who develop resistance presents serious and dangerous barriers to treating the disease This paper explains how a class of HIV drugs called L-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (l-nrti) works L-nrti blocks an enzyme needed for HIV replication, but they are found in blind clinical trials The important details about the mechanism of l-nrti are still a mystery and a focus of debate among the scientists who study them The paper also explains how mutations found in some patient populations can lead to resistance to the antiviral drug l-nrti "Patients, HIV scientists and doctors will all benefit from l-nrti," Suo said HIV scientists and pharmaceutical companies will now know how they work and will be able to use them to design better drugs They will be able to make minor adjustments in the mechanisms described in this paper to achieve better and stronger treatment options " MMWR: the prevalence of neural tube defects in HIV exposed pregnancies is 7.0/10000 doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6901a1 in a new study, Dr jenita reefhuis and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States reported that in HIV exposed pregnancies, 7.0 neural tube defects per 10000 live births The prevalence is similar to that of the general population The related research results were published in the Journal of morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on January 10, 2020 The paper title is "neural tube defects in pregnancies among women with diagnosed HIV infection-15 jurisdictionaries, 2013-2017" The picture is from cc0 public domain Using data from two CDC HIV / AIDS monitoring programs, the researchers estimated the overall prevalence of neural tube defects in 15 jurisdictions in the United States between 2013 and 2017, the prevalence of neural tube defects in pregnancies exposed to HIV, and birth defects The researchers found that the prevalence of neural tube defects in women diagnosed with HIV infection was 7.0 per 10000 live births The prevalence of neural tube defects is similar to that of the general population in these 15 jurisdictions (7.0 per 10000 live births) and to that estimated in the United States based on data from 24 states (about 8 per 10000 live births) 5 NAT commun: a new study reveals a new mechanism for the immune system to detect and respond to HIV infection doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13837-4 in a new study, researchers from the Norwegian University of science and technology, the University of Oslo and Tsinghua University in China found that the immune system detects and responds to HIV infection in a previously unknown way, which may improve the chances of curing the disease Relevant research results were recently published in the Journal of nature communications, and the title of the paper is "sensing of HIV-1 by tlr8 activates human T cells and reverses latency" When HIV enters the body, it infects the immune cells that the immune system uses to fight it, the CD4 helper T cells Once these T cells are infected, they cannot protect the body from other diseases or infections Therefore, the disease caused by HIV infection is called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) When a helper T cell does not have a receptor that matches the ligand on the HIV virus, it cannot actively infect the T cell Instead, the virus can be trapped in cells called endosomes In the past, scientists believed that this specific pathway - HIV is trapped in the body of helper T cells, which destroy the contents of the body - is a dead end of HIV infection After all, helper T cells are not actually infected, and their insides destroy the virus But now, the researchers have found an immune response that was not previously described, which is caused by the destruction of HIV in the body It may be the key to developing "shock and kill" latent HIV virus The researchers found that when HIV in vivo is destroyed, some of its genetic material is exposed to T cells, which in turn activates a molecule called tlr8 This leads to cytokine production, which leads to inflammation in the body Tlr8 is part of the body's innate immune system T cells are part of the adaptive immune system Generally speaking, the two systems are considered to be two separate branches In this new study, the researchers found that a receptor associated with the innate system actually exists and functions in the adaptive immune system This breakthrough paper brings new insights into reversing the underlying mechanism of HIV, and the discovery of tlr8 as an important receptor for HIV in T cells clearly represents a potential new target for HIV treatment In addition, these findings may also represent significant progress in vaccine development, because tlr8 ligands may be used as vaccine adjuvants, thus shaping the type of T-cell response induced by HIV vaccine 6 pounds! Two Nature papers reveal a new strategy to reverse HIV latency doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-1951-3; doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-1946-0 now, in the first new study, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Emory in the United States use a new strategy called azd5