New directions in research: report from the 10th International Conference on AIDS

Research findings presented at the 10th International Conference on AIDS, held in Yokohama, Japan, in August 1994, indicate that few advances have been made in standard antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection. The perinatal administration of AZT (zidovudine) was reported to reduce transmission of HIV from mother to child, and its use in combination with acyclovir appears to improve survival among patients with advanced disease. Other research has focused on asymptomatic patients with long-standing HIV infection. Their survival may be related to the activity of cell antiviral factor, a cytokine produced by CD8+ cells. In gene therapy research, one approach involved the genetic alteration of target cells to enable them to render the virus harmless. A second approach consisted of enhancing the function of CD8+ cells to allow them to compensate for dysfunctional CD4+ cells. The author believes that gene therapy may offer the greatest hope of an effective treatment for HIV infection.