Project Grant R21AI194898

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Oregon Health & Science University $236,444 on August 1, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to study the persistence of HIV-specific B cells in early-treated Thai children after long-term antiretroviral therapy.

The research characterizes HIV-specific humoral immune responses in children from the Thai HIV-NAT209 cohort who initiated antiretroviral therapy early after perinatal infection. The work focuses on analyzing IgM antibodies and germline-like IgM+ non-class-switched memory B cells in children who developed limited IgG responses but increasing IgM levels during suppressive therapy, and examines children who experienced viral rebound and subsequently developed IgG responses. The study will determine the magnitude and neutralization capacity of HIV-specific antibodies, epitope targeting, and B cell receptor characteristics, including heavy chain complementarity-determining region 3 lengths and somatic hypermutation levels. The investigators hypothesize that children will develop neutralizing antibodies after viral non-suppression and will exhibit distinct HIV-specific humoral immune characteristics compared to adults who initiated therapy during acute infection, including higher frequencies of non-class-switched memory B cells, shorter HCDR3 lengths, lower somatic hypermutation, and neutralizing antibodies with broader epitope targeting.

The award runs through July 31, 2028, with place of performance in Portland, Oregon 97239.