The advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy has resulted in a decline in the incidence of opportunisticinfections and prolonged survival in HIV-1 infected individuals. Obstacles towards virus erradication includethe continued presence of an infected quiescent pool, drug resistance, toxicities, and lack of treatmentadherence. The goal of genetic therapies is the replacement of the HIV-1-infected cell reservoir with cellsthat have been genetically engineered to resist HIV-1 replication. Unlike conventional drugs, it is possible tocreate a 'single administration' reagent. However, successful gene therapy strategies require efficient genedelivery into hematopoietic stem cells and the presence and expression of the anti HIV genes indifferentiated progenies that persist for years if not for the life of the individual. Thus, these current limitationsmust be investigated. A better understanding of the limitations of gene therapy techniques can lead tostrategies to overcome such limitations as well as design potential clinical scenarios in which to test them. Aspossible alternatives or complements to antiretroviral therapy, stem cell gene therapy strategies are ofinterest to the scientific community, to the health policy community in particular and to the public at large.The overall goal of the Gene and Cellular Therapy Core (Core G) is to provide scientific and technicalsupport for basic laboratory and clinical trial projects that require the use of purified CD34+ hematopoieticstem cells for HIV/AIDS gene therapy, hematopoiesis and pathogenesis of HIV.
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