The Role of the Gastrointestinal-associated Lymphoid Tissue in the Cure of HIV Infection
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Summary
The objective of this study is to understand the effects of HIV cure strategies on the virus and immune cells that reside within the gastrointestinal tract. Subjects receiving therapies with the potential for HIV cure will undergo a colonoscopy to obtain gastrointestinal tissue for research assays. This study will test whether receiving these therapies will induce changes in the immune cells in the gastrointestinal tract and reduce the tissue-associated HIV viral levels.
Description
After almost forty years from its first discovery, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection remains uncurable. The major obstacle to a cure for HIV infection is the integration of HIV into the host genome and its persistence in populations of long-lived immune cells subsets. These long-lived resting cells represent a reservoir of transcriptionally silent HIV and they are mostly localized in the secondary lymphoid tissue and the gastrointestinal associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). The most promising HIV cure strategies relay on molecules which can induce enhanced immune responses through an…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–75 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Provision of signed and dated informed consent form * Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and lifestyle considerations and availability for the duration of the study * Males and females; Age 18-75 * Chronic HIV-1 infection, documented by any licensed rapid HIV test or HIV enzyme or chemiluminescence immunoassay (E/CIA) test kit at any time prior to study entry and confirmed by a licensed Western blot or a second antibody test by a method other than the initial rapid HIV and/or E/CIA, or by HIV-1 antigen, plasma HIV-1 RNA viral load * Receiving treatmen…
Interventions
- ProcedureColonoscopy
Colonoscopy is a procedure where an instrument called colonoscope is inserted through the rectum to look at the entire internal surface of the intestine. Participants will be placed on a stretcher on the left side. A colonoscope will be advanced into the colon and into the terminal ileum. The entire procedure should take approximately 40 minutes
Location
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiNew York, New York