Call for notes!

Are you a medical student, basic physician trainee or Immunology/Immunopathology advanced trainee who is studying Immunology?

We are looking to boost the content of the notesonimmunology website.

If you have made original study notes that you think could be of benefit to others we would love to add you as a contributor.

Please send the notes in MS Word or Powerpoint to ssas7805@med.usyd.edu.au . Be sure to acknowledge the original source of any figures and tables and to include your name on your work.

notesonimmunology is a free, online, collaborative resource that is not for profit. There is no renumeration for contributions, however you will be listed as a contributor on the website.

MCQ#11

The class of antiretrovirals that acts at the step indicated by the large red arrow is:

a) NRTI

b) NNRTI

c) Fusion inhibitors

d) Protease Inhibitors

e) Integrase inhibitors

Click here for answer

HIV-associated multicentric Castleman’s disease mimicking urosepsis

My colleagues and I just published this case report that illustrates the difficulty in diagnosing multicentric Castleman’s disease.

Click here to read 

MCQ#5

A patient is newly diagnosed with HIV infection. CD4+ T-cell count is 700 cells/microL (RR 500-1200) and HIV viral load is >1000000 copies/mL. In regard to management which statement is CORRECT?

a) There are benefits to commencing Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) when CD4+ T-cell count is >500 cells/mL.

b) If the virus is CCR5-tropic then Maraviroc should be prescribed

c) The patient should be advised to take ART on alternate months i.e. 1 month on therapy and 1 month off

d) The patient should be commenced on PJP prophylaxis

e) The patient is an elite controller

Click here for Answer

START study finds benefits in early treatment of HIV

Recent interim analysis of the START trial found a clear advantage to early treatment of HIV as opposed to differed treatment. These results will likely have big implications for how HIV is managed globally.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/05/27/study-supports-early-hiv-treatment

Can zinc-finger nucleases be used to control HIV?

A recent review article I co-authored on the application of zinc-finger nucleases to edit the HIV co-receptor CCR5. Pointing the way to drug free control of HIV?

http://www.nature.com/cti/journal/v3/n7/full/cti201412a.html

HIV cleared in two patient treated with Bone Marrow Transplants (BMT) in Sydney

It has been a great privilege to be involved in this research which found undetectable HIV RNA and DNA in two HIV-infected patients who underwent BMT with donor cells not screened for CCR5 status.

http://www.nature.com/news/cancer-treatment-clears-two-australian-patients-of-hiv-1.15587

New notes on HIV Resistance testing

New notes on Laboratory Diagnosis of HIV

New HIV & Autoimmunity RACP Long Case Tips

Many thanks to Dr Winnie Tong for these HIV & Autoimmunity Long Case Tips. I especially like the Magic wand principle!