Fight AIDS Foundation

The Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) is a scientifically focused meeting of the world’s leading researchers working to understand, prevent, and treat HIV/AIDS and its complications. The goal of CROI is to provide a forum for translating laboratory and clinical research into progress against the AIDS epidemic. Over 4,000 leading researchers and clinicians from around the world convene in a different location each year for the Conference. The 20th edition will be held from March 3-6, 2013, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta (USA).

More than 30 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, with millions of new infections each year. The research efforts of tens of thousands of scientists and clinicians have had considerable success in diagnosing and treating infection. Nevertheless, we still do not have either a curative treatment or a preventive vaccine, without which most of those presently infected will die of AIDS, and new infections will continue unabated. The need for continued research on HIV/AIDS is clear. Timely communication of the results of such research among scientists and clinicians working on this subject is critical to advancing the field as rapidly as possible. CROI fills this need by bringing the leaders in disparate, but interrelated areas of AIDS research to interact with and educate one another in the very latest results, treatment methods, and state-of-the-art technological advances.

Six physicians and researchers from the Fight against AIDS Foundation will attend the conference with the following poster presentations:

Immune Activation, T Cell Homeostasis, and Therapy

Prolonged Preservation of HIV-­specific Cellular Immunity in Recently HIV+ Individuals Receiving Maraviroc Intensified 
HAART 

Authors: AI Kawana-­Tachikawa (1,2), J Llibre (3), I Bravo (3), R Escrig (3), B Mothe (1,3), 
J Miro (4), J Gatell (4), A Iwamoto (2), B Clotet (1,3), and C Brander (1).


1. IrsiCaixa AIDS Res Inst, HIVACAT, Badalona, Spain / 2. Inst of Med Sci, Univ of Tokyo, Japan / 3. Fundacio Lluita Contra La Sida, Hosp Univ Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain / 4. Hosp Clin, IDIBAPS, Univ of Barcelona, Spain

Novel Vaccine Strategies

HIV-1 Attenuation by Codon-pair Bias
Authors: Gloria Martrus (1), M Nevot (1), B Clotet (1,2), and MA Martinez (1)

1. Inst de Investigacio del Sida IrsiCaixa, Badalona, Spain / 2. Lluita contra la SIDA Fndn, Hosp Univ Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain

Tropism Testing/Maraviroc Resistance

Field validation of RECall for Automated Genotypic Tropism Testing
Authors: Christian Pou (1,2,3), R Bellido (1,2,3), M Casadella (1,2,3), T Puig (1,2,3), B Clotet (1,2,3,4), R Harrigan (5), and R Paredes (1,2,3,4)

1. IrsiCaixa Inst for AIDS Res, Badalona, Catalonia, Spain / 2. Hosp Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Catalonia, Spain / 3. Univ Autonoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Valles, Catalonia, Spain / 4. Fnd Lluita Contra la SIDA, Badalona, Catalonia, Spain / 5. BC Ctr for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, Canada

Hepatitis C Virus Treatment Today and Tomorrow

CD4 Increase induced by long-term cART in ARV naïve HIV and HIV/Hepatitis C Virus Co-­infected Patients: The 
PISCIS Cohort 

Authors: A Esteve (1), Jose Miro (2), C Campbell (1), A Gallois (1), D Podzamczer (1), 
C Tural (3), J Murillas (4), F Segura (5), C Cifuentes (6), J Casabona (1), and PISCIS Study Group

1. CEEISCAT, Badalona, Spain / 2. Hosp Clin-­Idibaps, Univ de Barcelona, Spain / 3. Fndn Lluita contra la Sida, Fndn irsicaixa, Hosp Univ Germans Trias i Pujol, Univ Autonoma de Barcelona, Badalona, Spain / 4. Hosp Son Espases de Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca, Spain / 5. Corp Sanitaria Univ Parc Tauli, Univ Autonoma de Barcelona, Sabadell, Spain / 6. Hosp Son Llatzer, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

ART Effects: Gene Expression and Cellular Function

Differential Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Gene Expression Pattern with 1st-­line Treatment Containing either Efavirenz 
or Lopinavir/ritonavir Authors: 
Lander Egana-­Gorrono (1), E Martinez (2), M Lonca (2), T Escriba (1), P Domingo (3), J Fontdevila (2), F Vidal (4), E Negredo (5), J Gatell (1,2), and M Arnedo (1)

1. AIDS Res Unit, Barcelona, Spain / 2. Hosp Clin, Barcelona, Spain / 3. Hosp de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain / 4. Hosp Univ de Tarragona Joan XXIII, Spain / 5. Fndn lluita contra la SIDA, Hosp Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain

ART and Bone Disease

Multicenter Randomized Study to Assess Changes in HIV subjects with Low Bone Mineral Density after Switching from Tenofovir to Abacavir: OsteoTDFStudy

Authors: Eugenia Negredo (1), P Domingo (2), N Perez-­Alvarez (1,3), M Gutierrez (2), 
J Puig (1), J Munoz (2), G Mateo (2), A Bonjoch (1), E Redondo (2), and B Clotet (4)

1. Lluita contra la Sida Fndn, Germans Trias i Pujol Univ Hosp, Badalona, Spain / 2. Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hosp, Barcelona, Spain / 3. Univ Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain / 4. Irscaixa Fndn, Germans Trias i Pujol Univ Hosp, Badalona, Spain