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The Treatment Action Group’s Michael Palm Basic Science, Vaccines, and Prevention Project (BSVP) works with HIV community members, scientists, and policy makers to enhance public understanding of the science of HIV infection, address gaps in HIV research, critique the research effort, and foster cross-disciplinary collaborations to accelerate research into understanding how HIV causes disease (HIV pathogenesis) and speed the development of effective immune-based therapies, preventive technologies, and a cure.
Areas that BSVP addresses include:
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The limitations of antiretroviral therapy (ART). An estimated 10% of people on ART remain at a significantly elevated risk for clinical illness because ART does not adequately restore their immune system. Overstimulation of the immune system caused by HIV infection (called immune activation) can impact health by increasing the risk of illnesses not previously thought to be HIV-related. Immune activation causes inflammation, which is associated with the development of cardiovascular, liver, and kidney disease. Even after several years of effective ART, immune activation is higher in people with HIV.
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The limitations of behavioral prevention interventions. Even the best prevention interventions do not completely eliminate the risk of HIV infection, and vulnerable people cannot always assure that their partners use available prevention tools. These limitations can only be addressed by the development of biomedical preventive technologies. Preventive technologies potentially include vaccines, microbicides, and preexposure prophylaxis.
BSVP works to:
- support and accelerate research into HIV pathogenesis
- promote the rigorous evaluation of new immune-based therapeutic approaches, including therapies to reduce immune activation and improve immune reconstitution
- accelerate the development of effective biomedical technologies to prevent HIV infections, including vaccines, microbicides, and preexposure prophylaxis
- communicate and explain new findings in the basic science of HIV to HIV community members and policy makers
- ensure that community priorities help shape research into pathogenesis, immunology, immune-based therapies, and preventive technologies
The current BSVP Coordinator is Richard Jefferys.