TY - JOUR T1 - Research news in clinical context JF - Sexually Transmitted Infections JO - Sex Transm Infect SP - 247 LP - 248 DO - 10.1136/sextrans-2020-054859 VL - 97 IS - 4 AU - Heather L Armstrong AU - Weiming Tang AU - Kristine Shields Y1 - 2021/06/01 UR - http://sti.bmj.com/content/97/4/247.abstract N2 - Two HIV prevention trials (HVTN 704/HPTN 085; HVTN 703/HPTN 081) enrolled 2699 at-risk cisgender men and transgender persons in the Americas and Europe and 1924 at-risk women in sub-Saharan Africa who were randomly assigned to receive the broadly neutralising antibody (bnAb) VRC01 or placebo (10 infusions at an interval of 8 weeks). Moderate-to-severe adverse events related to VRC01 were uncommon. In a prespecified pooled analysis, over 20 months, VRC01 offered an estimated prevention efficacy of ~75% against VRC01-sensitive isolates (30% of viruses circulating in the trial regions). However, VRC01 did not prevent infection with other HIV isolates and overall HIV acquisition compared with placebo. The data provide proof of concept that bnAb can prevent HIV acquisition, although the approach is limited by viral diversity and potential selection of resistant isolates.Corey L, Gilbert PB, Juraska M, et al. Two randomized trials of neutralizing antibodies to prevent HIV-1 acquisition. N Engl J Med. 2021;384:1003–1014.Investigators analysed a panel of 34 cytokines/chemokines in blood and semen of men (predominantly men who have sex with men) with HIV, comparing 21 who transmitted HIV to their partners and 22 who did not. Overall, … ER -