[Press kit]

with CD4 prevents induction of T cell death and/or homing.

* Wayne A. Marasco, M.D., Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA,
$90,000. Dr. Marasco will perform a clinical trial to test intracellular antibody, a new
form of gene therapy, and find out if it is safe and effective for the treatment of
HIV/AIDS. Antibodies are molecules made by special white blood cells that can bind
to infectious agents like bacteria and viruses and clear them from the body. The
antibody that Dr. Marasco will use has been designed to stay inside cells after it has been
made. The antibody binds and destroys an important part of the AIDS virus, the Tat
protein. Since the antibody is doing this inside the cells, the virus is attacked before it
is released from the cell. Dr. Marasco hopes that CD4+ T cells removed from the body
and genetically modified to produce the intracellular antibody will be able to protect
against HIV infection when they are put back into the body. Marasco also hopes that if
the patient does become infected with HIV, the intracellular antibody will significantly
reduce the production of virus by the treated infected cells. Dr. Marasco will test this
approach in ten HIV-infected patients who are sustaining high viral levels in their blood
despite antiretroviral therapy. His AmFAR grant will provide partial, but final support
of this important clinical trial.
* Kenneth I. Weinberg, M.D., Childrens Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, $75,000.
Although effective antiviral drug combinations hold great promise for HIV-infected
patients, most patients receiving such treatments have already lost large numbers of T
cells. New T cells are normally abundantly made by the thymus during childhood, but
their production greatly decreases in adult life. Methods to restore the thymic production
of new T cells in adults must be an essential part of strategies to truly cure HIV-infected
patients. Using a mouse animal model, Dr. Weinberg has shown that the production of
appropriate T cells can be successfully stimulated by administration of interleukin-7 (IL7). (Interleukins are like hormones, but they are produced by cells of the immune
system.) He has also corrected immune function by introducing the IL-7 gene into the
support cells (stroma) from the thymus of mice (a form of gene therapy). A combination
of basic studies on stromal cells and T cells in the test tube, as well as later clinical
studies will be used to develop an IL-7 treatment program to restore immune function
in HIV-infected patients.
* Jerome A. Zack, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, CA, $75,000. Dr.
Zack recognizes that increasing the numbers of new CD4+ T cells will be critical for
the healthy survival of HIV-infected individuals once the virus has been brought under
control by antiretroviral drugs. Recent evidence has suggested that despite its decreased
size in adults, the thymus remains active. Dr. Zack has shown that despite HIV
infection, fetal thymuses treated with antiviral drugs were able to resume production of
new T cells. Dr. Zack proposes to work with adult thymuses to determine to what extent
they remain active and whether the adult organ is capable of generating new T cells
despite HIV infection, when antiviral treatment is combined with other strategies.
The American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) is the nation's leading nonprofit
organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research (both basic biomedical and clinical