Could a single shot at birth shield kids from HIV for years?
Of course, studies conducted in animals don't always pan out in humans. But scientists say that if it does, it could save the lives of babies and children still imperiled by HIV.
The study authors estimate that more than 100,000 children worldwide (largely in subSaharan Africa) are believed to contract HIV soon after birth, primarily via breastfeeding with an HIV+ mother.
"Nearly 300 children are infected with HIV each day," said lead author Dr. Amir Ardeshir, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Tulane National Primate Research Center in New Orleans. "This approach could help protect newborns in high-risk areas during the most vulnerable period of their lives."
His team published its findings July 30 in Nature.
It noted that the new work hinges on the notion that in the first few weeks of a primate's life -- humans are primates, too -- the body's immune system is naturally more tolerant of "invaders," including gene therapies.
The research focused on a tried-and-true form of HIV-fighting gene therapy. It works by programming cells to continuously produce HIV-fighting antibodies.
The gene therapy was piggybacked onto a harmless adeno-associated virus (AAV) to help deliver it to the muscle cells of newborn rhesus macaques.
Muscle cells were chosen because they are particularly long-lived, Ardeshir's team explained.
The gene therapy instructs these cells to produce broadly neutralizing antibodies, or bNAbs, which are capable of neutralizing multiple strains of HIV.
It's not the first time bNAbs have been used in gene therapy to fight HIV. However, in prior trials repeat injections were required to keep the immune system vigilant.
In the new trial, "we turn these muscle cells -- which are long-lived -- into micro factories that just keep producing these antibodies," Ardeshir explained.
When such an approach is used in older monkeys, however, the animals' robust immune systems turn against the therapy, shutting it down.
That didn't happen when Ardeshir's team introduced it during a macaque's first few weeks of life.
All of the monkeys who got a single shot of bNAbs therapy soon after birth were shielded from infection with HIV for at least three years, with no need for a booster.
Tulane researchers said that's roughly the equivalent of a treatment that could ward off HIV in humans deep into adolescence.
If the gene therapy was delivered even a bit later -- 8 to 12 weeks after birth -- the young monkey's more developed immune system swung into action to fight it, eroding its effectiveness.
Giving the shot soon after birth seemed key, Ardeshir said.
"This is a one-and-done treatment that fits the critical time when these mothers with HIV in resource-limited areas are most likely to see a doctor," he noted in a Tulane news release. "As long as the treatment is delivered close to birth, the baby's immune system will accept it and believe it's part of itself."
Will it work in human babies?
That's not entirely clear, since it's possible infants might be less amenable than monkeys to therapies that are delivered via AAV, the team said.
The monkey trial also used only one strain of simian-human immunodeficiency virus, which is similar in some ways to HIV but may not reflect the variety of circulating strains of HIV strains.
Still, the research team is hopeful.
Giving families a one-shot preventive tool to protect their children would be especially useful in areas where access to repeat medical treatments can be tough, the researchers said.
"Nothing like this was possible to achieve even 10 years ago," Ardeshir said. "This was a huge result, and now we have all the ingredients to take on HIV."
More information
Find out more about HIV and AIDS at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
SOURCE: Tulane University, news release, July 30, 2025
Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Decades-old HIV charity's fear over future funding
A London-wide HIV charity has said it could be forced to close if the funding crisis it is facing continues. Positively UK, which has supported people with HIV for almost 40 years, has already closed its pan-London gay men's peer support group after being unable to secure funding for its future. Silvia Petretti, CEO said: "The support we give is very emotional. However, most of the time we have very short-term funding. From one year to another, we never know if we're going to be around." The government said it was "fully committed" to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and that its upcoming HIV Action Plan would focus on prevention and testing, as well as living well with HIV. According to the National Aids Trust, 2023 was the highest year for people receiving HIV care, with 107,949 treated - an increase of 27% across the last 10 years. Ms Petretti said: "HIV is not over. We have treatment for HIV, but we don't have a treatment for stigma yet." "Positively UK has existed since the 1980s," she added. "We're going to be 40 next year and I am worried that our services may not be there for people in the future because of the lack of funding. "We finished the year in the deficit and one of the most important services for us, the gay men's project, had to stop. In the past two years we applied to nine different funds and we couldn't secure any funding for the project." Phil Dehany started attending the support group four years after he was diagnosed with HIV in 2016. "I live by myself here in London and it can be lonely," he said. "Those opportunities to meet up with people once a month were a lifeline. "I would go as often as I could, and it's one of those things that you don't miss until it's gone, and I wish now that I'd gone a lot more often." "It was really sad when the project came to an end - straight away you've just lost that connection to that community." Mr Dehany said he now uses a range of other voluntary organisations, but fears that if funding struggles continue, those who need support, including elderly people living with HIV, will suffer. 'Nothing to replace that service' The voluntary and community sectors that offer support services for people living with HIV have faced big cuts in the last decade, the National Aids Trust said. A report by the charity found 71% of London's HIV voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations had to either reduce staff numbers, close services, merge with other organisations or use cash reserves to cover operating costs in the last three years. Some 40% were concerned about their ability to deliver services over the next three years. Robbie Currie, CEO of the National Aids Trust, said: "There's a funding crisis going on within the sector across the UK. "Statutory services have been massively reduced. It has really impacted on service provision. Services are either being cut completely or they are being reduced." Of Positively UK, he said: "There's just nothing to replace that service." The government recently pledged to end all new HIV diagnoses by 2030. Ms Petretti said: "The government wants the UK to reach zero transmissions by 2030, but if people are not supported to stay well, we will not reach this goal." In June, the Local Government Association warned that sexual health services in England were grappling with "unprecedented pressure" and urged the government to carve out a 10-year strategy and invest more to deliver "expert, timely care". A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said its 10-year health plan focused on how local government could improve services for sexual health by making better use of funding and working more closely with the NHS. They added: "We are fully committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and our upcoming HIV Action Plan will focus not just on prevention and testing, but also on helping people live well with HIV." They said more than £6m had been invested in the National HIV Prevention Programme and £27m of funding was announced in December. Additional reporting by Josef Steen, Local Democracy Reporting Service. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to More on this story Sexual health clinic axed despite STI hotspot Battle against HIV in London 'needs scaling up' 'I was told I had between three and nine months to live' Related internet links Positively UK Government guidance on commissioning local HIV sexual and reproductive health services
Newsweek
19 hours ago
- Newsweek
Woman Diagnosed With AIDS Given 2 Years to Live—Shock Over Her Health Now
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. "I kept my status hidden for decades to protect my family, but now it's my time to talk," Jennifer Comstock told Newsweek, 35 years after an AIDS diagnosis left her in denial. In 1990, Comstock and her first husband were on active duty in the Marine Corps. With her husband due to be sent out to the Persian Gulf, he submitted to a mandatory HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) test, which was positive. That wasn't when Comstock learned her fate, as she didn't know her husband was living with HIV until she visited him in the hospital and noticed countless warnings about HIV on his ward. Comstock was faced with the reality that her husband had been cheating on her with men and may have transmitted HIV. Just 20 years old, Comstock got tested and then came a perilous wait for the results. A month later, she was given the devastating news that she too was positive. "As I was on active duty in the Marine Corps, I was expected to be composed and to keep breathing, which I did," Comstock said. "In those early years, I lived in denial. I just believed I was going to be OK, without any real reason for feeling that way." During her first trip to the hospital, Comstock, now 55, learned that her T cells, a type of white blood cell that helps the immune system fight germs, were below 200. The normal range can vary, but The Cleveland Clinic suggests that generally it should be between 500 to 1,200 cells for a healthy adult. HIV is known to attack white blood cells and causes the body to make fewer T cells. By the time she learned of her diagnosis, Comstock's health had already deteriorated significantly. As a result, she was given an automatic AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) diagnosis. Jennifer Comstock in 1990 while in the Marine Corps, and with her second husband. Jennifer Comstock in 1990 while in the Marine Corps, and with her second husband. @positivejen / TikTok Untreated, HIV weakens the immune system and can become AIDS in around 8 to 10 years, according to the Mayo Clinic. People with AIDS are more likely to develop other diseases, causing symptoms such as sweats, chills, recurring fever, fatigue, mouth lesions, and weakness. Approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. have HIV, and around 13 percent of them don't know. In 2022, an estimated 31,800 people acquired HIV in the U.S., with the highest rates in the South. Following her diagnosis, Comstock was given only 2 years to live and told to "get [her] affairs in order" before she passed. "It definitely makes you live life to the fullest," she said. "I did what I wanted to do. I joined the military, in a large part to be able to afford college. But then I thought, why bother? I won't live to graduate, so I'd rather not spend my time studying. By my 40s, I went to college and graduated cum laude with a degree in history. I've never done anything by halves since my diagnosis. I give my full self to everything and everyone I am involved with." She's been taking ART (antiretroviral therapy) since 1997, which prevents the disease from transmitting if there's an undetectable viral load. In 1994, Comstock met her second husband who was HIV negative. She dreaded having to tell him that she has AIDS, assuming he'd walk away before their relationship even got started. "Instead, he said he didn't care if we had 2 years or 20," Comstock said. Ultimately, they had 30 wonderful years together and Comstock welcomed three children, all HIV negative. When they vowed to love each other in sickness and in health, they both truly meant it. "I ended up being the one taking care of him after he had an aortic dissection in 2007. I took care of him through two open heart surgeries and 17 years of bad health. You just never know how life is going to work out," Comstock told Newsweek. "My husband and I always wanted to travel. It wasn't always easy when my husband was sick, but we always said we could be sick at home, or sick somewhere exciting." Jennifer Comstock with her second husband on vacation. Jennifer Comstock with her second husband on vacation. @positivejen / TikTok Life has thrown many challenges at Comstock, but she's remained resilient. In recent years, Comstock sadly lost her husband and son (both unrelated to HIV). She's battled many illnesses, but her health is much better now, and the disease is undetectable. Her immune system was severely damaged before ART medication became available. Indeed, if that breakthrough didn't occur when it did, Comstock thinks she "wouldn't have made it" because she was incredibly sick. There were complications at first, including cardiomyopathy, heart failure, pneumonia and mini strokes, but Comstock isn't certain if they were caused by HIV or the medication. "Some of those early meds were much harsher than the newer ones," she said. Despite being told she only had two years left, Comstock has gained a college degree, started a family, and become a qualified travel advisor. Jennifer Comstock with her second husband while traveling the world. Jennifer Comstock with her second husband while traveling the world. @positivejen / TikTok Comstock has been living with AIDS for 35 years and no longer feels like she has to live in secret. She stayed silent to protect her children, but now that they're grown up, she is using her voice to educate and raise awareness. She created a TikTok account (@positivejen) to discuss her diagnosis, answer questions, and to break the stigma. "I am here and so many are not," she said. "Someone needs to speak up, especially for women. I want people to understand that people living with HIV are normal. We have kids, husbands, careers, full lives. HIV is something we have, not who we are. HIV doesn't define me." She added: "I have people from all over the world contacting me for advice. So many are just happy to see someone like me living a normal life. I often have to correct people posting misinformation. AIDS denialism is still alive and well—it's not like 1990, but it's still there." Is there a health issue that's worrying you? Let us know via health@ We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
The Hill
a day ago
- The Hill
Flu, COVID can reawaken dormant breast cancer cells: Study
Respiratory infections like COVID-19 and the flu can activate dormant cancer cells in breast cancer patients who are in remission, new research finds. The study, published in Nature, found that common viruses can reawaken small numbers of dormant breast cancer cells in the lungs. Researchers began investigating the link after the team noticed that U.K. patients who were in remission from breast cancer and tested positive for COVID later showed a two-fold increase in cancer-related deaths. They also analyzed a U.S. database that included nearly 37,000 patients and found that COVID infection was associated with a more than 40 percent increased risk of metastatic breast cancer in the lungs. Studies on mice found that influenza and COVID infections triggered dormant breast cancer cells after just days of infection. Within two weeks, researchers observed 'massive expansion' of the cancer cells into metastatic lesions by more than 100 times. Scientists have suspected that common viruses like Epstein-Barr can trigger some cancers. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is already documented to trigger cervical cancer. When it comes to breast cancer, however, research on human cells was limited, and it's not entirely known how the virus triggers the disease to spread. The findings suggest the body's immune response plays a role. After breast cancer goes into remission, a tiny number of cells remain dormant in lung, bone and liver tissue. Sometimes, inflammation can wake up the cells. In the mouse experiments, both influenza A and coronavirus only reawakened dormant cells if they triggered an inflammatory cytokine response. More research is needed to see if vaccination makes a difference when it comes to the possibility of reawakening dormant cells.
