New CHAIT initiative on development of novel immunological therapeutic interventions

The CHAIT initiative is a public-private partnership focusing on the development of novel immunological therapeutic interventions to achieve a 'functional HIV cure' with the ultimate goal of HIV eradication. The objectives of CHAIT include: 1) to develop novel immunological approaches targeting latent HIV reservoirs; 2) to establish a leading translational program accelerating the development from bench research to clinical development; 3) to establish a robust immunological and virological monitoring platform; and 4) to engage effective dialogues with regulatory agencies to define new criteria for response to therapy. CHAIT's major strength is that it builds upon a public-private multidisciplinary partnership and leverages expertise from both academia and industry.

"CHAIT is aligned with the 'Towards an HIV Cure' scientific strategy of the International AIDS Society, the aim of which is to contribute to the establishment of an international research agenda and/or to stimulate new initiatives towards an HIV cure," said Prof Giuseppe Pantaleo (SVRI, Switzerland) who, with Prof Yves Levy (VRI, France), started this initiative. "The public-private partnership and the expertise of its members provides CHAIT with the opportunity to facilitate the clinical development of combined immunological therapeutic interventions to complement antiretroviral drugs."

Thirty years after the discovery of HIV, the advances in the understanding of HIV pathogenesis and in the development of potent and safe antiviral drugs have been outstanding. However, these drugs alone have failed to eradicate HIV. This inability is partly due to the persistence of HIV reservoirs in the blood and lymphoid tissue of infected individuals. Building on the lessons learned from past failures, CHAIT aims to develop new intervention strategies targeting the latent HIV infection through: 1) combinations of different intervention methods, including vaccines and immunomodulators, to potentiate host immune responses; 2) innovation in treatment regimens; 3) identification of relevant efficacy markers. With the participation across several pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as academic groups, CHAIT represents a unique opportunity to improve collaboration and explore the possibility to combine different approaches in the ongoing search for cure.

"We need to shift to other strategies to target the covert reservoir of infected cells and to think how to combine agents that may rescue 'exhausted' T-cells with therapeutic vaccination that may stimulate T-cell responses in individuals already infected with HIV," said Prof Yves Levy. "The goal of the immunological interventions is to achieve control of HIV replication for an extended period of time in the absence of antiretroviral therapy, mimicking the situation of 'elite controllers'."

Source Swiss Vaccine Research Institute (SVRI)