Currently, 1.1 million individuals in the United States are living with HIV-1 infection. Although this is a relatively small proportion of the global pandemic, the remarkable mix of ancestries in the United States, drawn together over the past two centuries of continuous population migrations, provides an important and unique perspective on adaptive interactions between HIV-1 and human genetic ...

OBJECTIVE Prolonged human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection leads to neurological debilitation, including motor dysfunction and frank dementia. Although pharmacological control of HIV infection is now possible, HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remain intractable. Here, we report that chronic treatment with erythropoietin (EPO) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) prot...

Gene therapy for individuals infected with HIV has the potential to provide a once-only treatment that will act to reduce viral load, preserve the immune system, and mitigate cumulative toxicities associated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The authors have been involved in two clinical trials (phase I and phase II) using gene-modified adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), an...

Escape mutations in HIV-1 cytotoxic T cell (CTL) epitopes can abrogate recognition by the TCR of HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cells, but may also change interactions with alternative MHC class I receptors. Here, we show that mutational escape in three HLA-A11-, B8- and B7- restricted immunodominant HIV-1 CTL epitopes consistently enhances binding of the respective peptide/MHC class I complex to Immuno...

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a member of the TNF family that participates in HIV-1 pathogenesis through the depletion of CD4+ T cells. TRAIL is expressed on the cell membrane of peripheral immune cells and can be cleaved into a soluble, secreted form. The regulation of TRAIL in macrophages during HIV-1 infection is not completely understood. In this study, we investigated th...

The susceptibility of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) to protease inhibitors (PI) is largely unknown. We studied HIV-2 protease genes from 21 HIV-2-infected patients who were exposed or not exposed to PI. The aim of this study was (i). to characterize the polymorphism of HIV-2 protease in the absence of drug, (ii). to know whether the HIV-2 protease gene naturally harbors HIV-1 drug...

The fight against HIV/AIDS is an example of a global struggle for the promotion of sexual health and the protection of human rights for all, including sexual minorities. It represents a challenge for the understanding of its impact on political, social, and economic processes. My central goal in this piece is twofold. First, I underline the importance of a political and human rights perspective...