Researchers at Duke's Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology have teamed up with scientists around the world in an effort to develop a practical HIV vaccine.
"We want to find out why some individuals naturally fend off the disease upon infection or don't contract it at all," said David Goldstein, director of the Center for Population Genomics and Pharmacogenetics at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy and director of CHAVI's host genetics research core.
EuroCHAVI, the new collaborative effort, will operate through the original center established at Duke in 2005. CHAVI was funded by a grant of up to $300 million awarded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases over seven years to study interactions between the human body and HIV.
"[EuroCHAVI] will be the first large-scale effort to analyze variations among a large number of individuals in a standardized way," Goldstein said. "Also, the project will focus on the early stages of infection-a key period for understanding immune response."
During early stages of EuroCHAVI, numerous research teams will work independently to study topics such as viral diversity and the ability of cells to host the virus. Eventually, nine research cohorts in the United States, Europe and Australia will analyze genetic variations among 600 patients. A larger, parallel initiative will be implemented in Africa.
Researchers will seek out individuals with "acute HIV infection"--those who have contracted the virus but do not yet express related antibodies--at STD clinics, said Barton Haynes, director of CHAVI and of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute.
Goldstein's host genetics core, which will guide future "discovery teams," will analyze nucleotide variants to explore qualities of host cells' genetic structures among individuals likely and unlikely to contract HIV.
"The biggest thing that we know by far is that some individuals with mutations in a small number of genes are unlikely to be infected," Goldstein said, adding that the project will rely on advances in the development of the International HapMap-a catalogue of common genomic variations that may be used to identify diseases and responses.
Scientists working through EuroCHAVI may likely contribute to the control of HIV by further researching immunological responses, joining the ranks of discoveries being used in three ongoing trials to control the virus once it has infected the body.
Haynes said research through CHAVI aims to impact more directly the actual prevention of the disease, and EuroCHAVI's contributions could more likely contribute to the control of HIV.
He added that leaders involved with CHAVI will implement technological advances made possible by today's globalized society in order to collaborate on HIV/AIDS vaccine research.
"We have established a communications mechanism comprised of phone conferences and video conferences and face-to-face meetings," he said. "Constant communication and coordination is the key--it is also key for folks to be inspired for the project to work diligently."
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