For several years there has been interest in why some people with HIV-1 progress more slowly
to disease and have longer survival without Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) than
others. The investigators and others have identified a few HIV positive individuals who can
control their viral load for many years without HAART, these rare individuals do not lose
their HIV-1-specific cellular immune responses, which are very important for controlling
viral load. This group is referred to as long-term non-progressors (LTNP). Unlike LTNP the
majority of HIV-1 infected individuals are chronic progressors (CP) who do not make effective
HIV-1-specific cellular immune responses, even when on HAART. We propose to use a novel DNA
vaccine boosted with immune based therapy (cytokines and hormones) to try to regenerate the
missing HIV-1-specific cellular immune responses to make chronically infected HIV-1+ persons
more like LTNP.
By injecting this novel DNA vaccine and immune based therapy into the people who are already
infected with HIV-1, the immune system may be stimulated to mount a greater immune response
not only to the vaccines but also to real HIV-1 particles and HIV-1-infected cells.