Active clinical trials for "HIV Infections"

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and effectiveness of low doses of cyclosporine (CsA) in patients with early HIV infection and to evaluate its effect on the immune system. Activation of T cells (cells of the immune system) leads to HIV replication. Inhibition of immune activation is therefore a potentially important area of therapy for patients with early HIV infection. CsA is capable of decreasing T cell activation, which in turn may decrease HIV replication.

To compare the proportion of patients whose plasma HIV-1 RNA is below 500 copies/ml after 16 weeks of treatment. To assess the safety, toxicity, and tolerance of each treatment arm. While indinavir is currently the most commonly prescribed protease inhibitor, the optimal therapy for a person on an indinavir-containing regimen who experiences a rebound in viral load or never experiences a decrease in viral load below 500 copies per milliliter is unknown. Current clinical practice for such patients typically involves empiric use of a combination of other protease inhibitors (saquinavir/nelfinavir or saquinavir/ritonavir) and at least 1 other antiretroviral agent to which the patient has had little or no prior exposure. This may involve the use of 1 or more reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) or nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). This study attempts to formally evaluate some of these options in indinavir-experienced patients.

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety of anti-HIV drugs combined with low-dose chemotherapy (consisting of cyclophosphamide [CTX]) in HIV-positive patients. This study examines whether this combination therapy can reduce the number of HIV-infected cells hidden in the lymph nodes and blood. Current anti-HIV drug treatments can greatly reduce the levels of HIV in the human body. However, HIV can hide in certain immune cells and escape the drugs' effects. Chemotherapy using CTX destroys these immune cells. When used with standard anti-HIV drug treatments, CTX may be able to speed up the elimination of HIV-infected cells.

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of various combinations of anti-HIV drugs in HIV-positive men and women. Patients receive specific combinations of 3 or 4 of the following 6 drugs: didanosine (ddI), stavudine (d4T) efavirenz (EFV), nelfinavir (NFV), lamivudine (3TC), or zidovudine (ZDV). Anti-HIV therapy is effective in preventing the spread of HIV in the body. However, patients often experience unpleasant side effects and have difficulties following the dosing schedule. This study looks for combinations of anti-HIV drugs ("cocktails") which will be the most effective with the fewest problems.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of giving IL-2 plus anti-HIV (antiretroviral) therapy to HIV-positive patients with CD4 cell counts (cells of the immune system that fight infection) of at least 350 cells/mm3. This study will also examine the ability of antiretroviral therapy combined with IL-2 to boost the immune system. IL-2, given through injection under the skin, in combination with anti-HIV therapy can increase CD4 cell counts. This study examines 3 doses of IL-2 in order to determine the safest and most effective dose to use.

AMENDED: As of 10/19/90 only Children 0 to 3 months are being enrolled. Original design: To determine whether the experimental drug recombinant CD4 (rCD4), which is produced through genetic engineering technology, is safe and well-tolerated in children infected with or at risk for HIV infection. rCD4 may be an effective treatment for HIV infection, based on its ability to block infection of human cells by HIV in laboratory tests. However, the activity of rCD4 still needs to be confirmed in clinical trials. It is hoped that these tests will show that rCD4 is both safe and effective in treating children who are infected with or who are at risk for infection with HIV.

To obtain information about the long-term safety and toxicity of zidovudine (AZT). To ascertain whether interruption/resumption at a lower dosage is the optimal management of AZT toxicity. Because of the high incidence of toxicity and the relatively short-term follow-up of the patients due to the early ending of the Phase II placebo-controlled experiment, it is valuable to continue to get information on the long-term toxicity of AZT.

AMENDED: To investigate whether subcutaneous (SC) injection of IL-2 produces biological responses which parallel those observed with IV dosing. Original design: To evaluate the short-term effects of combined administration of zidovudine (AZT) and increasing doses of recombinant interleukin-2 (aldesleukin; IL-2) in patients infected with HIV, who have lymphadenopathy, but who are otherwise asymptomatic (no other symptoms). The first phase of this clinical trial will establish maximum tolerated dose ( MTD ). How quickly the drugs get into the blood and how long they remain there (pharmacokinetics) will also be studied at each dose as well as the effect on HIV. Since AZT has no effect on cells that contain inactive virus (latently infected cells) and these cells may act as viral reservoirs, that a second agent that can destroy these infected cells would be useful in combination with AZT. The different activities of AZT and IL-2, as well as the non-overlapping nature of their mechanisms of action and toxicity, increase the theoretical benefits of combining AZT, a drug which has clinically significant activity in HIV-related disease but cannot eliminate infected cells, with IL-2, a drug which may enhance anti-HIV immunity, destroy chronically infected cells, and allow immune recognition of latently infected cells.

Primary: To compare the efficacy of zidovudine ( AZT ) given alone versus AZT plus didanosine ( ddI ) versus AZT plus zalcitabine ( dideoxycytidine; ddC ) in delaying the occurrence of AIDS-related conditions in HIV-infected patients. Secondary: To compare the frequency and severity of adverse experiences in the three regimens. To compare the mortality rates in the three regimens. To compare the effects of antiretroviral regimens on CD4+ cell levels. Studies have indicated that maintenance therapy with AZT over extended periods may be limited by dose-dependent toxicity, primarily myelosuppression, and by the emergence of drug-resistant HIV strains. It is anticipated that the combination of AZT with either ddI or ddC may promote higher antiviral efficacy, with acceptable toxicity and less likelihood of development of drug-resistant strains, than AZT alone.

Immunopathogenesis objectives: To compare and quantitatively determine HIV burden and HIV replication in peripheral blood (PB) and lymphoid tissue (LT). To determine the degree to which antiretroviral therapy alters HIV replication in LT. Clinical objectives: To gain insight into the degree of correlation between immunologic surrogate markers for HIV disease (e.g., CD4, beta-2 microglobulin) as compared to measures of HIV replication in PB and LT. To assess changes in PB and LT viral burden after antiretroviral therapy and to determine its ability to predict an antiviral response. One of the major problems in defining the immunopathogenic changes in HIV infections has been the inability to correlate the extent of loss of immunologic function with the number of HIV-infected CD4+ cells in the peripheral blood. Few studies exist that measure viral burden in lymph nodes of HIV-infected individuals. Researchers hope to find out whether the amount of HIV virus or markers for the virus in the body's lymph tissue is a better measure of disease progression than the amount of virus or markers for the virus in the blood.