25th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2018)
14 March 2018. Related: Conference reports, Conference index, CROI 25 (Retrovirus) 2018.
4–7 March 2018, Boston
Introduction
Simon Collins, HIV i-Base
This year CROI was squeezed between a north-east storm that disrupted travel into Boston, knocking out power to a million US homes, and a snow storm on the last day of the meeting that also cancelled flights, at least to much of the rest of the US.
And in between the weather, around 1100 scientific studies were presented on every aspect of HIV research. And remarkably, almost as soon as each study was presented the abstract was available online with webcasts for oral presentations and PDF files for posters.
So these first i-Base reports signpost to key studies, and hyperlinks take you to the full results.
Cure-related research was a main theme this year, with many presentations on approaches to define and shift the reservoir of latently infected CD4 cells, including important proof-of-principle results in animal studies.
Other major themes included new and better treatments (including global access), HIV prevention (including PrEP) and important studies on managing coinfections and complications (important studies on TB).
The full programme is now available online and abstracts and webcasts from oral presentations will become available immediately after the presentations. Approximately 1100 new studies were selected for the conference this year.
Reports from CROI 2018 is this issue include:
- Inching towards an HIV cure: monoclonal antibody and TLR-7 agonist reduce viral rebound off-ART in macaques
- No HIV evolution in plasma or lymph nodes on suppressive ART and no impact from further intensification
- Dual therapy can reduce TB prophylaxis from nine months to one: fewer side effects and more people complete treatment
- Twice-daily dolutegravir is effective and tolerable with rifampicin
- Once-daily tenofovir alafenamide appears sufficient when dosed with rifampicin
- Efavirenz 400 mg can be given with anti-tuberculosis treatment
- Bictegravir at CROI 2018: switching studies and drug resistance analyses
- PrEP at CROI 2018 (part 1): Access in Australia and the US
- PrEP at CROI 2018 (part 2): Animal studies for future drugs
- BHIVA best of CROI feedback workshops
As with previous years, BHIVA will be organising a series of post CROI feedback meetings. Please register online to reserve a free place.
www.bhiva.org/Croi2018ConferenceRegistration.aspx