A5009331979- HIV Research and Treatment
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- HIV/AIDS drug development and treatment
- Immune Cell Function and Interaction
- HIV-related health complications and treatments
- LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Blood groups and transfusion
- Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
- T-cell and B-cell Immunology
- Diabetes and associated disorders
- Insect Resistance and Genetics
- Viral Infections and Vectors
- Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research
- Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques
- Parvovirus B19 Infection Studies
- Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia detection and treatment
- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Insect Utilization and Effects
- Immunodeficiency and Autoimmune Disorders
- Influenza Virus Research Studies
- HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
Africa Health Research Institute
2017-2025
Lovely Professional University
2024
National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources
2024
University of KwaZulu-Natal
2009-2022
Medical Research Institute
2017
Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
2016
HIV-1 causes a chronic, incurable disease due to its persistence in CD4+ T cells that contain replication-competent provirus, but exhibit little or no active viral gene expression and effectively resist combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). These latently infected represent an extremely small proportion of all circulating possess remarkable long-term stability typically persist throughout life, for reasons are not fully understood. Here we performed massive single-genome,...
Abstract Introduction HIV reservoir quantification is essential for evaluation of curative strategies and may provide valuable insights about dynamics during antiretroviral therapy. The Intact Proviral DNA Assay (IPDA) provides the unique opportunity to quantify intact defective reservoir. current IPDA optimized HIV-1 subtype B, dominant in resource-rich settings. However, C Sub-Saharan Africa, jointly accounting around 60% pandemic. We developed an assay capable quantifying proviral B C....
Abstract Little is known about the genotypic make-up of HIV-1 DNA genomes during earliest stages infection. Here, we use near-full-length, single genome next-generation sequencing to longitudinally genotype and quantify subtype C in four women identified acute infection Durban, South Africa, through twice-weekly screening high-risk participants. In contrast chronically HIV-1-infected patients, found that at phases these participants, majority viral are intact, lack APOBEC-3G/F-associated...
After sporadic reports of post-treatment control HIV in children who initiated combination anti-retroviral therapy (cART) early, we prospectively studied 284 very-early-cART-treated from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, after vertical transmission to assess viremia. Eighty-four percent the achieved aviremia on cART, but persisting 36 or more months was observed only 32%. We that male infants have lower baseline plasma viral loads (P = 0.01). Unexpectedly, a subset (n 5) males maintained despite...
Objectives: In the absence of HIV-1 virion infectivity factor (Vif), cellular cytosine deaminases such as apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide-like 3G (APOBEC3G) inhibit virus by inducing hypermutations on viral DNA, among other mechanisms action. We investigated association APOBEC3G mRNA levels and genetic variants susceptibility, early disease pathogenesis using load CD4+ T-cell counts outcomes. Methods: Study participants were 250 South African women at high risk for...
Persisting HIV reservoir viruses in resting CD4 T cells and other cellular subsets are a barrier to cure efforts. Early antiretroviral therapy (ART) enables post-treatment viral control some cases, but mechanisms remain unclear. We hypothesised that ART initiated before peak viremia impacts HIV-1 subtype C reservoirs. studied 35 women at high risk of infection from Durban, South Africa, identified with hyperacute by twice-weekly HIV-RNA testing. Participants included 11 starting median 456...
Uncertainty persists regarding the contribution of tissue macrophages to HIV reservoirs, largely due insufficient characterization these reservoirs within their native microenvironments. This study aimed characterize and quantify macrophage in human lymph node (LN) tissues terms phenotype, location, potential for sustained productive infection during suppressive antiretroviral therapy. We examined topology, nature, size nodes (LNs) from 45 PLWH subtype C on ART 14 matched controls using situ...
Persisting HIV reservoir viruses in resting CD4 T cells and other cellular subsets are a barrier to cure efforts. Early antiretroviral therapy (ART) enables post-treatment viral control some cases, but mechanisms remain unclear. We hypothesised that ART initiated before peak viremia impacts HIV-1 subtype C reservoirs. studied 35 women at high risk of infection from Durban, South Africa, identified with hyperacute by twice-weekly HIV-RNA testing. Participants included 11 starting median 456...
HIV infection in the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract is thought to be central progression, but knowledge of this interaction primarily limited cohorts within Westernized countries. Here, we present a large cohort recruited from high endemic areas South Africa and found that people living with (PLWH) presented at younger age for investigation GI clinic. We identified severe CD4+ T cell depletion tract, which was greater small intestine than not correlated years on antiretroviral treatment...
The human cytidine deaminase APOBEC3G (A3G) potently restricts HIV-1 but the virus, in turn, expresses a Vif protein which degrades A3G. A natural A3G-H186R variant, common African populations, has been associated with more rapid AIDS disease progression, underlying mechanism remains unknown. We hypothesized that differences activity towards A3G wild type and contribute to distinct clinical manifestation.Vif variants were cloned from plasma samples of 26 South subtype C infected patients,...
Abstract Background Strategies toward HIV-1 cure aim to clear, inactivate, reduce, or immunologically control the virus from a pool of latently infected cells such that combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) can be safely interrupted. In order assess impact any putative curative interventions on size and inducibility latent reservoir, robust scalable assays are needed precisely quantify frequency containing inducible HIV-1. Methods We developed S pecific Qu antification Inducible HIV −1...
Persisting HIV reservoir viruses in resting CD4 T cells and other cellular subsets are the main barrier to cure efforts. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) intensification by early initiation has been shown enable post-treatment viral control some cases but underlying mechanisms not fully understood. We hypothesized that ART initiated during hyperacute phase of infection before peak will affect size, decay dynamics landscape characteristics HIV-1 subtype C reservoirs.
Persisting HIV reservoir viruses in resting CD4 T cells and other cellular subsets are the main barrier to cure efforts. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) intensification by early initiation has been shown enable post-treatment viral control some cases but underlying mechanisms not fully understood. We hypothesized that ART initiated during hyperacute phase of infection before peak will affect size, decay dynamics landscape characteristics HIV-1 subtype C reservoirs.We studied 35 women at high...
Persisting HIV reservoir viruses in resting CD4 T cells and other cellular subsets are the main barrier to cure efforts. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) intensification by early initiation has been shown enable post-treatment viral control some cases but underlying mechanisms not fully understood. We hypothesized that ART initiated during hyperacute phase of infection before peak will affect size, decay dynamics landscape characteristics HIV-1 subtype C reservoirs.We studied 35 women at high...
Persisting HIV reservoir viruses in resting CD4 T cells and other cellular subsets are the main barrier to cure efforts. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) intensification by early initiation has been shown enable post-treatment viral control some cases but underlying mechanisms not fully understood. We hypothesized that ART initiated during hyperacute phase of infection before peak will affect size, decay dynamics landscape characteristics HIV-1 subtype C reservoirs.We studied 35 women at high...