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$4.3 million NIH grant awarded to explore HIV in brain cells
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A $4.3 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health will fund three research projects investigating HIV residing in brain cells despite conventional antiviral treatments, according to a press release.
Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s section of immunology and Temple University’s neuroscience department will collaborate on the projects, each of which targets different biological pathways vital to the virus’ function.
“This program represents a fresh look into a longstanding problem in HIV treatment — reservoirs of HIV within immune cells,” Steven D. Douglas, MD, chief of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s section of immunology, said in the press release. “While current antiretroviral treatment can reduce the virus to undetectable levels, HIV persists latently inside cells. If drug treatment is interrupted, the virus comes surging back.”
The first of the funded research projects will concentrate on the enzymes that degrade adenosine triphosphate production and drug candidates that can inhibit those enzymes, while the second will explore protein signals that drive macrophages to immune-suppressive activities. The third will study ways to disrupt HIV’s entry into cell reservoirs and block viral replication by manipulating the NK-1R cell receptor that binds to the neuropeptide substance P.
Project teams will focus on basic biology to determine which pre-clinical approach shows the most promise for the first half of the 4-year grant, and advance into animal models for the second half.
“All three projects seek to bypass vulnerabilities in the body’s immune system that are exploited by HIV,” Jay Rappaport, PhD, of Temple University School of Medicine, said in the release. “By using biological tools to reinforce immune function, we aim to enable the immune system to eliminate HIV infection.”