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Studying Immune Control of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections: Innate interactions, T cell responses, Osteoimmunology, Drug resistance and Aging.

We focus on immunity to viruses, particularly HIV infection, and investigates how the immune response contributes to the clinical outcomes of infection with HIV and other viruses.

Our group has a long-standing interest in the second strain of HIV, HIV-2, which is found predominantly in West Africa and leads to a greater proportion of long-term non-progressors (LTNPs) than infection with HIV-1 does. Previous studies in West Africa by our group suggest that the key differences between progressors and non-progressors with HIV-2 infection lie in their immune response to the virus, with LTNPs having much stronger and more potent T-cell responses that are associated with viral control. We are currently investigating how these protective responses might be generated in people with HIV-2 infection, looking at the early interactions between HIV-1 and HIV-2 with dendritic cells (important antigen-presenting cells that prime the cellular immune response). We hope that these studies will illuminate the mechanisms that underlie how a protective immune response is elicited, not only in HIV infection but potentially also in other infections and malignancies.

For over a decade our group has collaborated with a research team in Harare, Zimbabwe, led by Professor Rashida Ferrand, which has demonstrated that many older children and young people who have survived perinatal HIV infection (PHIV) develop unusual comorbidities, such as chronic heart, lung and bone disease. Our studies have shown that raised markers of co-infection with the herpes virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV), which commonly infects people in Africa during infancy, are associated with chronic lung disease and growth impairment in these young people. We have led laboratory studies during clinical trials (Breathe and Vitality) that aimed to identify effective treatments for these conditions, and have shown that immune ageing occurs more rapidly in young people with PHIV, particularly if they have unsuppressed viraemia. We are currently investigating how HIV and CMV affect the growth and maturation of osteoclasts, cells that break down bone.

 

 

Our team

Latest publications