Grant Award Details
- To identify an autologous, HSC-based therapeutic candidate for HIV, employing anti-HIV Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cells and anti-HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies
Grant Application Details
- An hematopoietic stem-cell-based approach to treat HIV employing CAR T cells and anti-HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies.
Research Objective
We propose to transduce hematopoietic stem cells with vectors that encode chimeric antigen receptors targeting HIV for T cells and anti-HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies for B and/or plasma cells.
Impact
Recent methods are limited by the rise of escape mutants against a single CAR. Our approach solves this issue by the ability to express multiple CARs and multiple secreted bnAbs concurrently.
Major Proposed Activities
- HSC vector construction and evaluation.
- Determine whether populations of dual HSCs are effective at controlling HIV-associated viremia and reducing the proviral reservoir.
HIV is a devastating viral disease that affects over 140,000 Californians and well over a million Americans. Though antiretroviral therapies have significantly reduced the severity and transmissibility of the disease, a cure still remains elusive and anti-HIV drugs need to be administered for life. These drugs have been associated with significant toxicity. If the studies proposed here are effective in animal models and then translate to humans, a cure is envisioned.