AIDS Research at the NIH: A Critical Review

program (of which its proposed AIDS/autoimmunity project, its new screen for IL-6 inhibitors, and
its new project on T-cell biology and immune enhancement in HIV infection, can be the starting
point) to develop therapies based on the diverse mechanisms of immune activation and immune
dysregulation with the objective of:
a. Correcting the cytokine dysregulation which has been observed in HIV infection, including
the development of inhibitors of TNF-alpha, IL-6, IFN-alpha, IL-10 and other cytokines;
b. Inhibiting acute phase reactants and arachidonic acid metabolites;
c. Depressing the generalized immune activation which may contribute to the
hypergammaglobulinemia, and even the depletion of the CD4+ cell population in HIV;
d. Inhibiting the indirect effects of HIV proteins (e.g. gpl20 and tat) on CD4+ and other cells
of the lymphoid lineage.
11V3. National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
The NCRR was established in February 1990 by merging the Division of Research Resources (DRR),
which originally provided extramural support to NIH-supported institutions, and the Division of Research
Services (DRS), which provided support for NIH intramural programs. Major NCRR programs include the
General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) in medical schools around the USA, the seven regional
Primate Research Centers, primate colonies and other animal models. NCRR also supports biomedical
engineering, instrumentation research, and research and training in minority institutions. The NCRR
director is Robert Whitney, Jr., DVM. NCRR spent $47M on AIDS in FY 1991. In 1991, NCRR spent $22.8
million on AIDS research at the GCRCs, $19.7 million to primate research centers in the Comparative
Medical Program, and $2 million to the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMIs). NCRR funds
in 1991 were allocated thus: $8.6 million for HIV related virology and immunology; $3.2 million for blood
products, diagnostic methods and animal models; $1.2 million for neuroscience; $1.4 million for behavioral
research and prevention research; $20.7 million for drug development and clinical trials; $7 million for
vaccine development; $2.5 million for work on transmission; and $2 million for natural history and cofactors.
Realgional Primate Research Centers. "The Regional Primate Research Centers (RPRC) Program, a
component of NCRR's Comparative Medicine Program (CMP), supports the development of nonhuman
primate animal models and resources, specialized facilities, scientific and technical personnel, and the
appropriate research environment for AIDS-related research... The seven centers maintain over 15,500
nonhuman primates representing 32 species... Increasingly, research on the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus
(SIV) animal model for human AIDS has dominated the research and resource development programs of
the seven RPRCs." The seven RPRCs are at UC Davis, Tulane, New England, Oregon, Washington,
Wisconsin and Yerkes (Atlanta). The chimpanzee program is expensive. Encumbered by regulations
foisted upon the PHS by animal rights activists, the govemment must establish a $30,000 endowment per
research chimp to provide for a "socially stimulating" retirement after the research protocols are over.
Vaccine research may have been unduly delayed because the original chimpanzee HIV challenge stocks
were made with the laboratory isolate HIVV.wves, rather than more clinically widespread strains such as
HIVN or HIVSF2. In spite of such setbacks, RPRC workers had a productive year in 1991. For example,
University of Washington RPRC investigators developed a new animal model for HIV infection, the pigtailed macaque Macaca nemestrina. RPRC researchers are crucial players in the search to elucidate the

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