San Diego Biomedical Research Institute

HIV/AIDS: The World Health Organization recently estimated that 36.7 million people live with HIV/AIDS worldwide with 1 million HIV-related deaths every year. New infections are estimated at an alarming 1.8 million worldwide. Developing a successful HIV vaccine is a major global health initiative. Research at SDBRI is focused on introducing novel designs to create an HIV vaccine that increases the frequency of recipients who respond successfully to the vaccine. The new SDBRI strategy of using HIV virus-like particles (VLPs) as a vaccine platform is showing great promise. In addition, over the past two years SDBRI scientists have identified pieces of the immune system that do not respond to HIV vaccines. This is very important because it allows us to identify those pieces of the immune system that are missing in some people. SDBRI continues to participate in a multi-organization HIV vaccine research program. Our investigators work with scientists across the U.S. and in several foreign countries, including The Netherlands and China. A Staff Scientist from China received salary & benefits while being trained at SDBRI in a variety of cellular, molecular and biochemical techniques to better understand the human response to vaccines.

HIV-associated neurological disease: Currently, more than half of HIV patients have HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND). Although drugs to control HIV infection have been instrumental in preventing progression to AIDS, they do not protect from HAND, which is now on the rise as this patient population is aging. SDBRI scientists working on HAND have discovered a biological process that we believe is involved in accelerating the aging process in people with HIV, increasing their risk of dementia. SDBRI scientists are now focused on designing and testing strategies to stop that biological process for the purpose of preventing the onset of dementia. In addition, drug abuse, particularly methamphetamine, increases the number of cells that HIV likes to infect in the central nervous system, increasing the HIV reservoir and aggravating inflammation. SDBRI research is focused on how methamphetamine encourages cells in the brain to attract and provide a home for HIV infection. This information will then be used to design therapies to stop HIV from infecting cells in the brain. A student from Austria received salary while being trained at SDBRI in a variety of cellular immunology and sterile techniques to better understand the effect of methamphetamine on HIV infection in experimental models.

Cancer & Muscle Health:Metastatic cancer is cancer that has spread from the site where it was first detected to another organ. Scientists at SDBRI are working on understanding how cancer cells move from one place to another so that we can develop new medicines that stop them from moving. Scientists at SDBRI have discovered a gene that, if left uncontrolled, can turn a normal cell into a cancer cell. This gene is present in very high amounts in cancer cells from women with the most aggressive form of breast cancer. SDBRI scientists have also identified molecules inside cancer cells that tell the cancer to move from one place to another. In experimental systems blocking the function of this gene and these molecules stops the cancer from spreading. That information is now being used to develop drugs to prevent the spread of cancer to other organs.Cachexia, pronounced kuh-kek-see-uh, is the profound loss of muscle that is often seen in people with late stage cancer. It is incredibly debilitating and is associated with poor response to medications and poor prognosis. So far, no single drug has successfully reversed or stopped cachexia. The goal of the SDBRI cachexia research team is to identify the problems that cause cachexia at a very early stage, before cachexia begins. Over the past several years research at SDBRI has identified immune cell types in the blood of cancer patients that are present at higher levels in patients with stronger and larger muscles than in patients with smaller and weaker muscles. The focus now is to find out whether these immune cells can be used as markers to predict which patients will become cachexic and whether increasing the number of these cells might prevent the onset of cachexia in those patients. SDBRI scientists work with scientists across the U.S. and India. This work involves the transfer of scientific information and training. A postdoctoral fellow from India received salary & benefits while being trained at SDBRI in cellular, molecular and biochemical techniques to understand how the immune system changes as the disease progresses, and how we can intervene to stop the devastating effects of cancer progression.