The revolutionary treatment known as CAR-T therapy bolsters patients’ immune response against once-incurable cancers by genetically engineering patients’ T cells to target and attack tumors. CAR-T cells directed against HIV-infected cells could offer a way to functionally cure HIV in the estimated 40 million people with HIV (PWH) worldwide. However, the high manufacturing costs and complex infrastructure required for laboratory production of CAR-T cells followed by reinfusion into patients limits its wider use for HIV treatment in low- and middle-income countries, where HIV infection is most prevalent.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Harris Goldstein, M.D., and colleagues at Caring Cross a five-year, $3.6 million grant to develop a lower-cost and highly scalable T cell-targeted lentiviral delivery technology for producing HIV-specific CAR-T cells in patients’ bodies rather than in highly specialized laboratories. After developing this technology, Dr. Goldstein and colleagues will attempt to cure HIV in PWH by generating modified duoCAR-T cells—novel T cells genetically modified to (1) express two different receptors that will recognize and destroy HIV-infected cells and (2) produce antibodies that prevent further spread of HIV infection. If successful, this would provide a more accessible and cost-effective strategy to provide a functional HIV cure so that patients would no longer need life-long antiretroviral treatments.

Dr. Goldstein is professor of pediatrics and of microbiology & immunology, senior associate dean for scientific affairs, and the Charles Michael Chair in Autoimmune Diseases at Einstein, and director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research. (1R01AI174275-01A1)