TSRI scientists awarded two grants to develop new therapeutic target to reduce latent HIV infection

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been awarded a pair of grants totaling nearly $2.8 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of The National Institutes of Health to develop a new therapeutic agent to reduce latent levels of HIV that hide from the immune system in infected individuals.

TSRI Associate Professor Susana Valente will be the principal investigator of the multiyear grants.

"Our approach is aimed at a novel antiviral target, a protein known as a potent activator of HIV gene expression," Valente said. "With this new funding, we can continue to develop our approach to the difficult problem of HIV latency, finding a way to suppress the virus in these latently infected cells."

Valente's research is focused on blocking the Tat protein, which is essential for viral amplification.

In the new project, Valente's team will explore the potential of didehydro-Cortistatin A (dCA), a molecule closely related to a natural compound isolated from a marine sponge, to reduce the size of the latent reservoir pool of HIV by blocking ongoing viral replication, reactivation and replenishment.

"The new grant will help us confirm didehydro-Cortistatin A as workable inhibitor and better understand the mechanism of viral resistance to it," Valente said.