Publications Launched at IAS 2012

The IAS conference is used to launch publications on important aspects of HIV treatment or access. Here are a few that caught our attention. All are available free online.

Towards an HIV Cure: Global Scientific Strategy

Officially announced at a pre-conference workshop, the IAS "Towards an HIV Cure" Global Strategy represents a thorough and comprehensive framework for cure-related research in the future.

The report identifies seven main research priorities in how best to overcome HIV persistence before a cure (functional or sterilising) can be realised.

• Why does HIV persist: immune and viral factors
• Where does HIV persist: tissue and cell reservoirs
• Immune activation and dysfunction on ART
• Natural models of HIV/SIV control
• How to measure persistent infection
• How to reverse latency: treatments
• Immune approaches, gene therapy, vaccine

At the report launch, Steven Deeks, co-chair of the IAS cure working group, said "We are entering a stage in the epidemic in which we can seriously begin testing drugs that either prevent latency or which force the virus out of its hiding place, making it susceptible to our current drugs."

www.iasociety.org/Web/WebContent/File/HIV_Cure_Full_recommendations_July_2012.pdf  (PDF)

MSF Reports

The international health organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) launched several important documents on improving access to treatment. These included:

• The importance of viral load tests globally
• Untangling the web of ARV price reductions
• How US trade and intellectual property agreements further threaten global health
• An MSF report for faster scale-up

http://www.msfaccess.org

Lancet Series on HIV in MSM

The Lancet published a series of articles highlighting the ongoing growth of the HIV epidemic in men who have sex with men (MSM). 

The articles cover both the science and culture behind the MSM epidemic. One comment piece examines "The irony of homophobia in Africa", which is reflected in a review of the recently released film "Call me Kuchu" which looks at the life and death of David Kato in Uganda.

Topics covered also include the unique challenges faced by black MSM around the world; stigma and discrimination affecting MSM; and a look at the global epidemiology of HIV infection in MSM.

www.thelancet.com/series/hiv-in-men-who-have-sex-with-men

TAG/i-Base Pipeline Report 2012

A plug for our own publication. For the third year i-Base have partnered with the New York-based activist group Treatment Action Group (TAG) to produce a combined pipeline review of new drugs, formulations, vaccines, strategies and diagnostics for HIV, hepatitis and TB.

www.i-base.info/2012-pipeline-report

www.pipelinereport.org

UNAIDS Report: Together we Will End AIDS

Launched just prior to the conference, this report from UNAIDS was stacked high in the UNAIDS booth. It includes photographs, graphics and contributions from people with key roles in the global response.

The most useful information is probably the individual country data relating to new infections in children, the incidence in women, details on access to treatment and care, and HIV-related mortality. All on pages 122-123, just before references.

www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/togetherwewillendaids

JAIDS Supplement: HIV and Ageing

A review of current knowledge and research concerns relating to HIV and ageing was published as a supplement in the Journal of AIDS. 

Rather than the benefits of HAART that have extended life expectancy by 50 years, the authors focus on the complex interplay of social and medical circumstances whereby "on average, a 20 year old initiating ART may already have lost one-third of their expected remaining years of life compared to similar HIV uninfected persons".

The report highlights the concerns about Inflammation, co-infection (including CMV), reviews current data on biomarkers (IL-6, CRP, d-dimer, soluble CD14 and markers of T-cell activation and senescence), highlights current knowledge gaps and suggests priority areas of future research.

http://journals.lww.com/jaids/toc/2012/07011