ARCHIVED - Research About - HIV/AIDS

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The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's agency for health research. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to catalyze its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health-care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to nearly 12,000 health researchers and trainees across Canada. Through CIHR, the Government of Canada invested approximately $37.1 million in 2007-08 in HIV/AIDS-related research across Canada.

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The Facts

• The first case of AIDS in Canada was reported in 1982. From 1985 through June of 2007, there were 63,604 positive HIV tests reported across Canada, 83% of which were adult males.

• After levelling off in the mid-1990s, the estimated total number of people living with HIV in Canada started increasing in the late 1990s, due to the life-prolonging effects of antiretroviral drugs.

• The annual number of newly reported HIV infections increased from 2,470 in 2002 to 2,557 in 2006. Unprotected sex between men continues to account for the largest proportion of new HIV infections.

• Every day around the world, more than 6,800 people become infected with HIV and over 5,700 people die from AIDS.

• There were 32.2 million people living with HIV in 2007, 2.5 million of whom were newly infected. Globally, there were 2.1 million AIDS deaths in 2007.

(Source: Public Health Agency of Canada, United Nations, World Health Organization)

Finding Solutions

Natural gene can shut down HIV

Researchers at the University of Alberta have found a naturally-occurring gene that can block HIV and prevent the onset of AIDS. Dr. Stephen Barr, a molecular virologist, says his team has identified a gene called TRIM22 that blocks HIV infection in cells grown in a lab by preventing the virus from assembling. While antiretroviral drugs can interfere with HIV's ability to produce more copies of itself, they can't eradicate the virus - something TRIM22 could do. The next challenge is to find why TRIM22 does not work in people infected with HIV and learn how to switch it on.

Protein protection from killer diseases

A Canada-U.S. research team has discovered a key protein that has the ability to protect against killer immune diseases, like HIV. HIV kills so-called "central memory" cells that play an important role in helping the immune system fend off viruses. The newly-discovered protein, FOX03a, helps retain memory cells. Researchers first identified the protein in a group of HIV-infected men who do not show any symptoms. According to lead researcher Dr. Rafick-Pierre Sékaly of University of Montreal, the discovery of FOX03a will also help scientists develop therapies for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and hepatitis. Results of CIHR-supported research were featured in an advance online edition of Nature Medicine.

Ethics guide aimed at researchers working overseas

While all medical research requires keen attention to ethical issues, important cultural, political, social, and economic determinants influence international HIV/AIDS research. For that reason, the Canadian Association for HIV Research has a produced a 76-page guide called Ethics Issues for Canadian HIV/AIDS Researchers in International Settings to assist Canadian scientists working overseas. The CIHR-supported document draws on lessons learned through the international experiences of some of Canada's leading HIV/AIDS researchers.

The Researchers

Dr. Kenneth Rosenthal - Towards an HIV/AIDS Vaccine

How Dr. Kenneth Rosenthal thinks about the human body says a lot about his battle plan against HIV/AIDS.

"We're essentially walking tubes," says Dr. Rosenthal, a McMaster University immunology researcher and one of Canada's leading HIV/AIDS scientists. "We have mucosal surfaces that line our lungs, guts and genital tracts. Taken together these surfaces are about the size of a basketball court. Most harmful bacteria and viruses enter through these surfaces."

His lab is focused on finding ways, including a vaccine, to stimulate the mucosal immune response as the main line of defence against the AIDS virus.

Historically, the focus in immunology has been on blood-centred infection fighters. However, at any one time only two percent of our white blood cells, the work horses of the immune system, are in our blood. The vast majority are standing guard at the proverbial tubular gates.

What this means for an HIV/AIDS vaccine, says Dr. Rosenthal, is that it needs to both reach and stimulate an immune response in the mucosal membrane. "Most existing vaccines are given as a classic needle in the arm," he says. "But these needle-based vaccines don't necessarily trigger immunity in the mucosal membranes," says Dr. Rosenthal, who's been studying the HIV/AIDS virus since 1981. He says a mucosal-targeted vaccine will probably be administered either as a nasal spray or as a pill.

Dr. Rosenthal's approach is bolstered by the discovery, including evidence from his lab, that the virus makes the mucosal immune system its first target.

"The HIV virus very rapidly wipes out the body's mucosal immune system," he says. "An effective HIV vaccine will have to induce a strong and lasting mucosal immune response."

For more information, go to www.impact.cihr-irsc.gc.ca.