Newswise – SEATTLE (EMBARGOED UNTIL 10 AM EDT JULY 28, 2002) — Scientists, physicians and other health professionals from the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) will present research findings and other news related to HIV at AIDS 2022, the International AIDS. Conference that will take place virtually and in person in Montreal, Canada, from July 29 to August 2.
HVTN, based at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center with an international network of AIDS and HIV experts, will participate in more than a dozen oral, poster and other presentations. Summaries and information are embargoed until 10 am EDT on Thursday, July 28. To arrange an interview, please contact Sandy Van, [email protected].
Here are summaries of several representative sessions.
High prevalence of asymptomatic omicron carriage and correlation with CD4+ T-cell count among adults with HIV enrolled in the Ubuntu COVPN 3008 clinical trial in sub-Saharan Africa
Dr. Jessica Andriesen, senior vaccine and infectious disease scientist who will be giving this presentation, said the Ubuntu study (CoVPN 3008) offers an opportunity to better understand the COVID-19 pandemic in people living with the hiv People living with HIV account for approximately 80% of the approximately 11,300 people enrolled as of July 1, 2022. Planned analyzes include the effectiveness of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines against symptomatic disease and severe COVID-19 caused by variants of concern, and the immune response to mRNA vaccination in people living with HIV. When Ubuntu began enrollment, a high percentage of participants who joined the study were found to be living with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections at their first vaccination visits. Participants living with HIV who had low CD4 counts were more likely to also be living with SARS-CoV-2 infections, whether or not they already had antibodies from a past infection. “These findings highlight the urgent need to better characterize how immunosuppression due to HIV affects a person’s chances of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 and their ability to clear the infection and fully recover Andriesen said.
Type of session: Oral presentation. Late Breaker Track C.
Date, time and place: Tuesday, August 2, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., room 517d/Canal 2.
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Administration of the CD4-binding site-targeting and broadly neutralizing antibody VRC07-523LS in double and triple antibody combinations with 10-1074, PGT121 and/or PGDM1400: impact on pharmacokinetics compared to administration of VRC07-523LS alone
“We found in antibody-mediated prevention (AMP) studies that a broadly neutralizing antibody could prevent HIV infection, but only if the infecting strain was highly susceptible to the antibody,” said first author and presenter Dr. Dr. Stephen R. Walsh, an infectious disease specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “To improve this, we’re testing newer antibodies that cover more strains of HIV, and we’re testing combinations of these antibodies to try to get broader coverage of the global diversity of HIV. One antibody we’re testing is called VRC07- 523LS and covers more strains of HIV than the AMP antibody.The VRC07-523LS antibody has a half-life in the human body of about 55 days, which means that we should not give it to people as often as the ‘AMP antibody. When we combined VRC07-523LS with other anti-HIV antibodies, the half-life in the human body was about 52 days, which is really no different. This is important because it shows that the level of VRC07-523LS in the body does not change if given alone or in combination with other anti-HIV antibodies.”
Session type: electronic poster.
Date, time, place: Sunday, July 31, from 3:30 p.m., on the conference website and in the Palau de Congressos, second floor.
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Analysis of the HVTN 702 Phase 2b-3 HIV-1 Vaccine Trial in South Africa Assessing RV144 Antibody and T-Cell Correlates of HIV-1 Acquisition Risk
First author and presenter Dr. Zoe Moodie, senior scientist in Fred Hutch’s Division of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, said this study addresses the critical question of whether the immune responses that were correlated with HIV in the trial Thai RV144 also apply to other vulnerable people. populations “Although the related vaccine regimen studied in HVTN 702 in South Africa did not prevent participants from acquiring HIV, the trial gives us a unique opportunity to answer this important question and provide clues as to why the vaccine regimen it didn’t work,” he said. The study showed that among vaccinees with a certain type of high-binding antibody response, vaccine-specific CD4+ T-cell responses were associated with 51% to 60% greater vulnerability to HIV come down On the other hand, among those with low binding antibody responses, CD4+ T-cell responses were associated with 2.2- to 3.6-fold greater vulnerability to HIV. “Our findings are in line with the related results from RV144, raising the possibility that vaccination must induce high-binding antibody responses, along with strong CD4+ T-cell responses, to achieve protection against the HIV,” Moodie said.
Session type: Poster. Late Breaker Track A.
Date, time, place: Saturday 30 July, at 9 am
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Analysis of immune correlates of the Imbokodo HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trial
First author and presenter Avi Kenny, a PhD student in biostatistics at the University of Washington, said this presentation is about the Imbokodo clinical trial (HVTN 705) that enrolled 2,600 women in sub-Saharan Africa and be designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new HIV vaccine based on Ad26 vectors. “Although the vaccine did not show significant efficacy in preventing HIV-1 acquisition, a secondary analysis assessed whether any of a prespecified set of antibodies and T-cell biomarkers was associated with risk of acquisition of HIV or vaccine effectiveness. Although there were no statistically significant associations, the subgroup of vaccine recipients with the highest levels of a specific biomarker that measures antibodies that bind to the surface of ‘an HIV envelope protein had the lowest rate of HIV-1 acquisition,’ Kenny said. “This hypothesis-generating finding provides a useful direction for future vaccine research, indicating a target for favoring candidate vaccines that generate more frequent and higher levels of the specific biomarker.”
Type of session: Oral presentation. Late Breaker Track A.
Date, time and place: Saturday, July 30, 11:47 a.m., Room 511/Channel 7.
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COVID-19 and HIV: Community engagement lessons learned and applied from two pandemics
Lessons learned about community engagement from the past 20 years of HVTN trials informed the success of similar efforts in support of COVID-19 vaccine research. Now that the COVID-19 vaccine studies are reaching their conclusions, what lessons can be applied to HIV vaccine research as these studies resume? Presenters will share how the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) built on previous community engagement successes in the HVTN, the success of these efforts in COVID-19 vaccine studies, including enrollment of BIPOC communities, the participation of religious and native organizations. Native American or Native communities, the use of a participant screening registry, and the use of infographics and videos for marketing and social media campaigns. As HIV vaccine studies begin to resume, presenters will also share how these COVID-19 successes are being re-applied to HIV research, addressing pre-pandemic challenges with a registration slow in the study This Global Village session will be presented and moderated by Gail Broder, Associate Director of HVTN’s Social Behavioral Science and Community Engagement Unit, and Dr. Stephaun Wallace, HVTN Director of External Relations. Additional participants and panelists will include HTVN Community Engagement Project Managers Rafael Gonzalez, USA and Puerto Rico; Kagisho Baepanye, East and Sub-Saharan Africa; Luciana Kamel, Argentina and Brazil; and Patricia Segura, Mexico and Peru.
Session type: Global Village Session.
Date, time and place: Sunday, July 31, from 17:00 to 18:00, Canal Global Village/Room 2.
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Interfaith Pre-Conference: Taking Action to Overcome HIV Stigma and Discrimination
Before AIDS 2022, Dr. Ulysses W. Burley III, founder of UBtheCURE LLC, will co-facilitate a two-day event that includes workshops, networking opportunities and presentations by and for faith leaders on HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Session topics include:
- Recommendations from the people and communities affected, in dialogue with religious leaders.
- Theological principles guiding faith groups to overcome stigma and discrimination.
- Take advantage of trust and access to maintain control of the epidemic and advance prevention.
- Innovations to combat HIV stigma and discrimination.
- The impact of new testing tools and methodologies.
- How optimal pediatric HIV treatment is paving the way to end stigma among children.
- Long-acting injection to treat HIV.
- PREP and PEP: essential tools to end stigma.
- Monitoring and evaluation frameworks that can be adapted to religious interventions to address stigma and discrimination.
UBtheCURE is a Chicago-based consulting firm at the intersection of faith, health and human rights, with expertise in HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. Although Burley’s formal training is in cancer immunology and epidemiology, his primary work has been in HIV and AIDS education, awareness, advocacy, and training in the context of faith.
Type of session: Pre-conference event.
Date, time, place: Wednesday, July 27 and Thursday, July 28, from 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. both days, La Plaza Centre-Ville-EVO in Montreal.
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Screening of documentary film: ‘My Faith, My Story: HIV in the US South’
Dr. Ulysses W. Burley, will also host a screening of the documentary “My Faith, My Story: HIV in the US South” on behalf of the US Faith Coalition on HIV/AIDS and National HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Burley is a co-founder of both the organization and the recognition event. He and Khadijah Abdullah, executive…