Source – https://theconversation.com/

Women make up more than half of the people living with HIV around the world. Young women between the ages of 10 and 24 are twice as likely to get HIV as young men in the same age group. In East and Southern Africa young women will acquire HIV on average five to seven years earlier than their male peers.

Researchers have been working hard to find effective HIV prevention measures.

Most notable is the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) pill known as Truvada. This is a combination of two antiretroviral drugs – tenofovir and emtricitabine. This can be effective in preventing HIV acquisition. But taking a pill every day is not practical for many people.

Scientists from the HIV Prevention Trials Network recently found that a PrEP regimen of long-acting cabotegravir (CAB LA) injections once every eight weeks was better than the daily tablet used for HIV prevention. Ina Skosana spoke to Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, a research professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and director of research at the Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Institute to find out more.

Can you tell us about the study?

This study, known as HPTN 084 is the first one to compare the efficacy of two HIV prevention or pre-exposure prophylaxis regimens.

The first regimen consisted of an injection of the long-acting antiretroviral drug, cabotegravir given every eight weeks. The second regimen was the daily oral dose of Truvada. Truvada has been shown to be highly effective for HIV prevention when taken as prescribed in a variety of populations and contexts.

We enrolled over 3,200 sexually active, HIV-uninfected cisgender women at 20 sites in seven countries. Research took place in Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe between November 2017 and November 2020.

Our study randomised participants to one of two arms. One arm received active cabotegravir and a Truvada placebo. The other arm received active Truvada and placebos for cabotegravir. Cabotegravir was administered daily by mouth for 5 weeks and via intramuscular injection at 8-weekly intervals after an initial 4-week interval load.

What did you find?

Preliminary findings show that overall 1% of participants were infected with HIV during the study period. This suggests that both cabotegravir and Truvada are highly effective for HIV prevention in this population.

The 34 incident infections detected in participants assigned to Truvada is equivalent to an incident of 1.79%. And the four infections detected in the participants assigned to cabotegravir is equivalent to an incidence of 0.21%. This confirms a new prevention option for women that offers a significant advantage over existing oral PrEP which requires consistent daily use and is associated with significant adherence challenges.

We observed roughly 9 times the number of incident HIV infections in the Truvada arm compared to the cabotegravir arm. This finding suggests that cabotegravir is much more effective than Truvada in preventing HIV infection in women. And the threshold for early stopping of the trial was met. Based on these findings the independent data and safety monitoring board recommended that the blinded portion of the study be stopped early and the results released to the scientific and broader community.

An earlier sibling study in cisgender men and transgender women called HPTN 083  showed similar results. A prep regimen containing long-acting cabotegravir injectable once every 8 weeks was superior to the daily oral Truvada in that population.

What are the next steps?

The study results are important and timely as more methods to prevent HIV among women at higher risk of HIV are urgently needed. These include methods that do not depend on daily or near-daily pill-taking, condom use or abstention from sex. The development of alternative methods to prevent HIV, and more adherence-friendly schedules than are currently available, will increase the HIV prevention choices and acceptability for women and reduce new HIV infections.

We have communicated with the research ethics committees and national drug regulators overseeing this study, and site investigators and study participants are being notified about the results as soon as possible. Participants will be able to learn about the medication that they were receiving. A protocol amendment will be submitted for regulatory review to allow participants to continue taking their assigned medication or to switch to cabotegravir if they choose.

Participants on Truvada will be offered cabotegravir as soon as the medication can be made available. All participants will be asked to continue on the study. And if they chose not to remain on the study, they will be referred for the best locally available HIV prevention services. We look forward to presenting these results in a peer-review setting at upcoming conferences as we finalise the primary analysis.

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The world today may be on alert for the rampant Coronavirus, but scientists have not left out continuous research for a cure to HIV/AIDS, which has plagued millions of people everywhere. A new report reveals that another step has been taken towards a cure, as a few groups of researchers made a breakthrough.

A collaborative effort between the researchers from the University of North Carolina, Emory University, and Qura Therapeutics resulted in a breakthrough in HIV/AIDS research. The UNC Cure Center discovered a method of identifying and reactivating dormant cells that can be combined with other clearance strategies in order to clear the HIV reservoir that will end in a definitive, permanent cure.

This method was already tested on monkeys who suffer from SIV, which is a form of HIV, and the results were successful. With this result in animals, they continue to search for an effective cure for the HIV virus for humans, one that will not produce any side-effects nor necessitate maintenance medication. One of those methods will likely purge the HIV reservoir that the virus forms in the blood.

What makes the HIV virus so difficult to eradicate from a patient is because the virus forms a reservoir that returns once the patient stops using antiretroviral therapy or ART medication. Because the immune system cannot detect the virus when it is dormant, it cannot attack and kill the virus in that phase.

At the moment, the researchers are working on a drug that can identify and revive latent cells in humans. If this proves to be successful, then human trials may begin, and a cure will be developed to end the epidemic once and for all.

Aside from formulating drugs as well as identifying latent cells in humans, a group of researchers recently came up with a mathematical equation that could accurately predict when the virus would return once ART medication is stopped. Dr. Jessica Conway and her team explained their model at a conference in Hartford, Connecticut, back in January.

One challenge regarding this model is that the time the virus will rebound will vary from patient to patient as there are other factors to consider. As of now, Conway and her team are close to figuring out the model, and after a few more tests, they will have found the model that can be of big help to doctors for better clinical trials.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Together, hair loss prevention and anti-aging skincare represent a more than $11 billion market. Yuva Biosciences, an anti-aging startup based on technology developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is harnessing its cutting-edge science to develop products based on breakthrough research, in which mitochondria play a role in reversing skin aging and hair loss.

“It’s exciting to see another startup born out of UAB technology choosing to stay and grow in Birmingham,” said Kathy Nugent, Ph.D., executive director of UAB’s Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “Competing companies are predominantly located in medtech clusters, including Silicon Valley and Boston; but our local ecosystem is also poised for cultivating innovative startups like Yuva.”

The startup intends to develop cosmeceuticals, science-based cosmetics with medicinal properties, and pharmaceuticals. The runway to product launch becomes significantly shorter for cosmeceuticals, and the company expects to develop initial topical products within four years.

Wrinkled skin and hair loss are among the earliest and most predominant visual changes observed during aging.

“Yuva Biosciences plans to mitigate many of the undesirable effects of aging, which is why we like to say our goal is to provide youthfulness for life,” said Keshav Singh, Ph.D., professor of genetics in the UAB School of Medicine, who will serve as Yuva Biosciences’ chief scientific adviser. “Initial products will be aimed at helping people look and feel younger, with a longer-term plan to address aging-related diseases and disorders.”

Greg Schmergel, a Boston-based serial entrepreneur, will serve as chairman of Yuva Biosciences, offering more than 25 years of experience in launching multiple high-tech ventures and leading a nanotechnology company, Nantero, Inc., where he is the co-founder and CEO.

“Yuva is positioned to become a leader in the anti-aging industry, under Keshav’s vision and scientific leadership,” Schmergel said. “We are committed to building the company in Birmingham, where we’ll have access to resources like the world-class researchers and facilities at UAB, the startup-focused amenities at Innovation Depot, and the rising regional entrepreneurial network.”

The company has identified lab space at Innovation Depot and plans to hire additional employees.

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Scientists claim to have discovered the “cause” of endometriosis – raising hopes for a cure for the agonising condition.

Researchers found a type of white blood cell, called macrophages, which has undergone changes could be the prime cause. The team, from Warwick and Edinburgh universities, ran various tests on mice and say that targeting the altered cells could be a novel treatment.

Currently, there is no cure for endometriosis – a lifelong condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

Endometriosis, which affects 1 in 10 women in the UK, can occur at any age, but it’s most common in women in their 30s and 40s.

It can cause persistent inflammation, pain and infertility as well as agonising periods and ovulation.

Surgery can remove some of the scar tissue and lesions, while hormonal treatments can offer relief from symptoms – but can carry the risk of side effects after prolonged use.

Without a cure for a condition that affects 176 million worldwide, an alternative treatment is much needed.

Previous studies had already shown that macrophages have a central role in the development of endometriosis. The immune cells help the lesions grow and also drive the development of their blood supply.

More recent research has also revealed that macrophages help nerves grow in the lesions.

The aim of the new study, published in a recent Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal paper, “was to determine the mechanistic role of macrophages in producing pain associated with endometriosis.”

Senior study author Dr Erin Greaves, who holds positions at both universities, explained that conventional treatments that use hormones are “not ideal” because they target ovarian function and can trigger side effects, such as suppressing fertility.

She added: “We are trying to find non-hormonal solutions.”

The team found that “disease-modified” macrophages stimulate nerve cell growth and activity by releasing the growth hormone insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).They also found that levels of IGF-1 in pelvic cavity tissue from women with endometriosis were higher than in women without the condition and were in line with their pain scores.

Further tests revealed that preventing the hormone’s activity by blocking the cell receptor for IGF-1, “reverses the pain behaviour observed in mice with endometriosis.”

Dr Greaves added: “If we can learn about the role of macrophages in endometriosis then we can distinguish them from healthy macrophages and target treatment to them.”

Symptoms of endometriosis

Endometriosis is where cells like the ones in the lining of the womb (uterus) are found elsewhere in the body.

Each month, these cells react in the same way to those in the womb – building up and then breaking down and bleeding. Unlike the cells in the womb that leave the body as a period, this blood has no way to escape.

That can lead to infertility, fatigue, bowel and bladder problems, as well as really heavy, painful periods.

It affects one in 10 women in the UK.

Symptoms include;

• Painful, heavy, or irregular periods
• Pain during or after sex
• Chronic pain
• Infertility
• Painful bowel movements
• Fatigue

The cause of endometriosis is unknown and there is no definite cure.According to Endometriosis UK, it takes over seven years on average for women to finally receive a diagnosis.It’s estimated that up to 50 per cent of infertile women have the condition.

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