Active clinical trials for "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome"

HIV antiretroviral therapy has the potential to dramatically decrease HIV transmission worldwide1; yet, a barrier to ending the AIDS epidemic in low-resource settings is the fact that healthcare is largely provided by traditional or spiritual healers rather than biomedical providers, and there are no strategies in place to identify HIV-infected patients among Traditional Healer patients and link them to HIV care. In order to reach the UNAIDS 90-90-90 benchmarks HIV services must reach marginalized populations in endemic regions, such as in southwestern Uganda. Uganda is one of seven sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries accounting for 90% of all new HIV infections in this region6. HIV prevalence is 7.3%, with ~1.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS and 99,000 new infections in 2014. However, only 50% of sexually active Ugandans have ever tested for HIV8. In the project location of southwestern Uganda, like much of SSA, the majority of Ugandans utilize Traditional Healers (TH), but little is known about Traditional Healer practices or rates of HIV testing (or HIV infection) among their clients. Specific aims of this study are to: 1) identify key socio-structural factors that frame HIV testing behaviors among Ugandan adults who utilize Traditional Healers; 2) investigate acceptability of providing point-of-care HIV testing at Traditional Healer practice locations; and 3) develop and pilot a prospective HIV testing intervention among Traditional Healer patients to promote earlier diagnosis. Results will be used to implement subsequent, large-scale cluster-randomized HIV testing intervention at Traditional Healer practice locations. Findings from the proposed study include formative data on populations that utilize Traditional Healers in an HIV-endemic region of Uganda, and pilot testing of an HIV testing intervention at healer practice locations; these results could be applied towards expanding HIV testing in other low-resource, endemic settings.

The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of an intervention to prevent chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity in midlife and older Latino adults living with HIV. The investigators expect that the participant will be in this study for seven months. Participants will be interviewed and asked to take part in walking groups.

Despite increasing knowledge about and use of PrEP nationally, HIV continues to have disproportionate impact among cisgender men and transgender persons who have sex with men and transgender persons (MSM/TG), with methamphetamine (meth)-users being at particularly high risk. Building on their preliminary work, the investigators will pilot text messaging and peer navigation interventions to support PrEP use among meth-using MSM/TG with potential to be cost-effective, scalable, and easily adaptable.

This is a prospective cohort study of outcomes of individuals who entered jail during a period during which one of three serial HIV testing strategies is implemented. This study involves two sub-studies. One sub-study will examine referrals to HIV prevention programs for persons testing negative for HIV while in jail. The second sub-study will monitor antiviral use among those testing positive for HIV.

Although combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) has dramatically improved quality of life and lifespan of HIV infected individuals, it still fails to eliminate viral reservoirs. The Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT) is the largest reservoir of HIV-1, as it harbors most of HIV target cells as activated memory Cluster of differentiation (CD)4+/CCR5+ T cells. Intestinal T and B cells express α4β7 integrin, a gut mucosal homing receptor which binds to gp120 HIV-1 envelope facilitating the infection of intestinal T cells and the early establishment of the gut HIV reservoir. Intensive viral replication in the GALT leads to an early impairment of mucosal immunity, due to the severe CD4+ T cells depletion, that could be also explained by a lack of recruitment in the gut. Among T cells, interleukin-(IL-)17 secreting CD4+ T cells (Th17) are particularly depleted during HIV infection. This depletion could be associated with HIV progression since these cells play a crucial role in the maintenance of mucosal immunity. A dysbalance of the Th17/Treg ratio may reflect the loss of the intestinal epithelial barrier integrity. These damages are responsible for an increase in microbial translocation, which is associated with immune activation and progression to AIDS. Several recent studies have shown that cART initiation during acute or early HIV-1 infection reduces HIV DNA reservoir size and improves immune reconstitution in blood. Post-treatment controllers, who started long-term cART early after HIV infection, have very low levels of HIV DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, similarly to elite controllers. Unlike most HIV-infected individuals, they maintain an undetectable plasmatic viral load after several years of cART interruption, suggesting that a weak reservoir is a prerequisite to achieve a functional cure. By extrapolation, it could be hypothesized that the gut viral reservoir is also decreased and that mucosal immunity is restored when cART is initiated during primary phase of infection. The gut viral reservoir begins to form within the first days after HIV exposure, and grows during acute HIV infection. Similarly, intestinal T cells are depleted very early after infection, due to high viral replication, host immune response and bystander effects. Most studies also concluded that long-term and optimal treatment can't fully restore mucosal immunity. These observations led us to study the impact of time of cART start on the size of viral reservoir and on immune reconstitution in the gut. For this, we analyzed the virological and immunological characteristics of the rectal HIV reservoir of long-term treated patients regarding their blood CD4+ T cells count at the time of cART initiation.

75 subjects at risk for HIV infection (25 high risk MSM and 50 sero-discordant couples) will be recruited. All subjects will receive Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, as well as routine medical evaluations during one year. Subjects will be managed according to CDC's guidelines on the management of PrEP as a tool for HIV prevention.

This demonstration project will assess the acceptability and feasibility of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for men who have sex with men (MSM) as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package in community-based clinics in West Africa. An interventional, open label, multidisciplinary and multicentre cohort study will be performed in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Togo. All MSM enrolled will benefit from a comprehensive HIV prevention package including quarterly clinical examinations, screening and treatment of STIs, screening of HIV, PrEP (daily or on-demand, according the participant's choice), immunisation against hepatitis B, individualised peer-led support (for adherence and prevention), group discussions, condoms, and lubricants.

The investigators would like to carry out this study to measure drug levels in HIV-infected women that are taking anti-HIV medications. This study will determine the predictors of high drug levels and will assess the association of drug levels and adverse events in women.

The primary objective of this project is to assess the study population's acceptance of two medication adherence support strategies: incentive-based programs and electronic medication monitoring. The study population is adolescents (ages 16 - 24) positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) currently undergoing treatment with antiretrovirals at St. Jude's HIV clinic. Participation in the study will involve completion of a survey: an Audio Computer Assisted Self Interview (ACASI). The duration of the survey is anticipated to be 10-20 minutes. Patient identifiers will not be attached the survey.

The purpose of this study is to compare the liver toxicity in HIV-infected patients with chronic hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C, who start a new antiretroviral drug regimen, as well as the influence of the degree of pre-existing liver fibrosis on the incidence of liver toxicity.