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HEALTH HIV Report with Filippo von Schloesser Is a vaccine imminent? Words by Marla E. Schwartz The first case of AIDS was identified in 1981 in America. Three decades later scientists have made impressive advances toward treating this disease. The miracle of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs has proven to slow down the disease. For example, in industrialized nations, an HIV positive person who takes ARV therapy can expect to live more than forty years with HIV. The big challenge that remains is coming up with a vaccine or at least with a microbicide to stop the disease in its tracks. The reason a vaccine hasn’t been discovered yet is because hundreds of trials failed to achieve their target and were closed before tabulating final results. There are a handful of researchers who will not give up on discovering a way to kill the HIV virus, and their hope for such a ‘cure’ lives in the dreams of so many people, especially individuals living in poor settings without access to health systems. But there is hope around the corner. Dr. Anthony Faucy (Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Health) recently affirmed that vaccine and microbicide studies continue. “The research is now focused toward understanding the capability of the antiretrovirals to penetrate the sanctuaries,” Filippo von Schloesser, ML HIV/AIDS expert explained. “What are the sanctuaries? They’re those organs of the human body where the virus persists longer then in the blood: the lympnodes, kidneys, testicles and the brain.” year where researchers discuss their treatment and pathogenesis findings. The use of antiretrovirals Photo taken in Paris by Miami Living's Publisher, Markin Abras in sanctuary penetration was discussed at the conference. “Nevirapine (Viramune), often forgotten by clinicians who like to prescribe newer drugs, has a unique ability to penetrate into the kidneys and testicles, destroying all particules of the virus that might be produced within the genital fluids. Additionally, the newer antiretrovirals raltegravir (Isentress), darunavir (Prezista) and maraviroc (Selzentry) brought interesting results in terms of penetration. “Of course any HIV treatment regimen must be tailored to each patient depending on different factors such as the efficacy, the tolerability and “Microbicides might be an important innovation in preventing the communication of HIV.” Several recent studies have demonstrated that certain antiretrovirals have a good penetration rate. Most of the results of these studies were presented at the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco, last February (www.retroconference/org/2010). CROI is the biggest HIV science conference of the the capability of the patient to be adherent to the regimen designed by the doctor,” von Schloesser said. Another important breakthrough discussed was the future of microbicides studies. “Microbicides is a promising product in development that people can use vaginally or rectally to protect themselves from HIV,” von Schloesser said. “Microbicides might be an important innovation in preventing the communication of HIV.” What we’ve learned from these studies is that antiretrovirals may one day be formulated as microbicides and offer a new prevention tool to people. Continued research is vital toward the development of a vaccine because according to recent statistics 33.4 million people worldwide suffer from HIV, and 2.7 million of these people are newly infected. ML MIAMI LIVING 95