Scientific Strategy Towards HIV Reservoirs Cure

The Fifth 'International Workshop on HIV Persistence, Reservoirs & Eradication S

trategies' will be held from December 6-9, 2011, in St. Martin, West Indies. The
topics explored are geared towards an understanding both of the mechanisms invo
lved in HIV persistence in its reservoirs, and the possibilities of finding new
strategies to use in order to eradicate HIV from infected hosts. The preliminary
program is now online.
Toulon, France, April 05, 2011 -- Despite effective antiretroviral therapy (ART)
, HIV persists in viral reservoirs and anatomic sanctuaries in a â dormantâ or latent st
te. Consequently, ART has to be taken life-long, implying problems of compliance
, resistance, toxicity, cost, and each time it is interrupted, the infection rek
indles. Furthermore, most infected individuals live in poor-resource countries w
here less than 40 percent of patients have access to these therapies. Finally, i
n the absence of a preventive vaccine, more than 33 million individuals are infe
cted worldwide with 7,000 daily new cases.
It is therefore urgency to increase our scientific understanding of the mechanis
ms allowing HIV persistence and test new strategies for a cure, either sterilizi
ng or functional.
This is the objective a group of scientists tackled since 2003 when they founded
the first edition of the â International Workshop on HIV Persistence, Reservoirs & E
radication Strategiesâ . This group contains international researchers and clinicians
such as Doctors Alain Lafeuillade (Toulon, France), Mario Stevenson (Miami, USA
), Robert Gallo (Baltimore, USA), Jose Gatell (Barcelona, Spain), David Margolis
(Chapel Hill, USA), Tae-Wook Chun (Bethesda, USA), Nicolas Chomont (Port St. Lu
cie, USA), Monsef Benkirane (Montpellier, France), Francoise Barre-Sinoussi (Par
is, France, 2008 Nobel Price) and others.
This steering group has just unveiled the preliminary program of the 5th edition
of their workshop, to be held this December in Saint Martin (West Indies). This
one contains basic sessions on animal models of HIV persistence, virology, immu
nology, and two sessions on eradication strategies including gene therapy. Sever
al speakers are already scheduled, from the US, Europe, and Australia, and the p
rogram will be complemented in the forthcoming months by selected abstracts from
participants.
The workshop objectives are to bring together basic scientists and clinicians, p
resent and discuss unpublished data, define future scientific priorities and inc
rease the global commitment towards an HIV cure. It has already received support
from Abbott Virology, Boehringer Ingelheim, Gilead, Janssen, ViiV Healthcare an
d the ANRS (French Agency for AIDS Research).
Contact: Alain Lafeuillade, MD, General Hospital, Toulon, France; Ph: +33-4-9461
6340; Fax: +33-4-94616341 ; email : lafeuillade@orange.fr; Website : http://www.
hiv-workshop.com/workshop-2011.htm
Contact:
Alain Lafeuillade
Hiv-Workshop
General Hospital
Toulon, France
33-4-94616340
lafeuillade@orange.fr
http://www.hiv-workshop.com/workshop-2011.htm