The Use of Leukapheresis to Support HIV Pathogenesis Studies

NCT01161199 · Status: RECRUITING · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 100

Last updated 2026-05-01

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Despite the dramatic improvements that have resulted from combination antiretroviral treatment, long-term efficacy, toxicity, cost, and the requirements for life-long adherence remain as formidable challenges. Also, there is emerging consensus that persistent HIV-associated disease occurs during long-term highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This disease may be due to either direct drug-toxicity and/or persistent viral replication/production and/or persistent HIV-associated inflammation. Hence, strategies aimed at achieving complete viral eradication may be needed in order to fully restore health among HIV infected individuals. Even if complete eradication proves impossible-as most believe to be the case-a less rigorous but still desirable outcome might be achieving durable control of virus in the absence of therapy. That a "functional" cure is possible is well illustrated by those rare individuals who are able to durably control replication competent virus in the absence of therapy ("elite" controllers).

A more complete understanding of the relationship between inflammation and viral persistence is necessary before more rationale studies of HIV eradication can be designed. Also, a well validated high through-put virologic assay needs to be developed that can estimate the size of the latent reservoir. Since the level of replication competent virus in long-term treated patients (and in elite controllers) is very small (\< 1% of CD4 cells harbor HIV), large numbers of CD4+ T cells most be obtained from study participants in order to routinely isolate and quantify virus persistence.

Conditions

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Leukapheresis

Blood will be taken by a needle placed in one arm and processed through a machine, which spins the blood so that the white blood cells will be separated out in the machine for purposes of this research and the rest of the blood will be returned through a needle in the other arm.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Steven Deeks, MD · University of California, San Francisco

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2010-10-26
Primary Completion
2033-07-31
Completion
2033-07-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01161199 on ClinicalTrials.gov