CHAPEL HILL, N.C., July 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ACTG, a global clinical trials network focused on HIV and other infectious diseases, announced today that it will make three presentations at AIDS 2026, which is being held July 26 – 31, 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ACTG’s oral and poster presentations will highlight two key focus areas for the network’s research: HIV cure and aging with HIV.
“ACTG is committed to research that meaningfully impacts people living with HIV,” said ACTG Chair Joseph J. Eron, M.D., University of North Carolina. “We are excited to make these three presentations at AIDS 2026, an international conference that brings together scientists, providers, and advocates from around the globe to tackle the challenges that remain around treating, preventing, and curing HIV. ACTG has been a leader in HIV research for nearly four decades, and we are proud to share data that continue to advance our understanding of how to improve the experiences of people living with HIV.”
HIV Cure Research
ACTG will make two presentations from its HIV cure study A5386, an open-label, phase 1 trial evaluating whether N-803 (a clinical-stage biologic) can control HIV alone or together with combination broadly neutralizing antibodies (also called bNAbs, they are antibodies that neutralize different variants of HIV) after participants stop taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) during an analytic treatment interruption (ATI). When taking ART, people living with HIV have latent HIV reservoirs – groups of immune cells that contain HIV but do not produce new copies of the virus. When people stop taking ART, the virus in the latent cells reactivates and infects new CD4 cells, thereby increasing the amount of HIV in a person’s body.
- IL-15 Superagonist N-803, With or Without bNAbs, Induces Reduction and Transcriptional Activation of the Intact HIV Reservoir is an oral presentation taking place on Wednesday, July 29 from 10:30 - 11:30 Brasilia Time (BT) in session room 103 (Rachel Scheck, et al.)
- TCF-1⁺ CD8⁺ T-cells Link Immune Modulation to Post-Intervention Control in ACTG A5386 will be part of the poster presentations made on Wednesday, July 29 from 12:00 - 1:00 pm BT in the poster exhibit hall (Itzayana Miller, et al.)
These presentations report that N-803, with and without bNAbs, was able to significantly reduce the HIV reservoir, providing evidence that approaches using N-803 or other similar interventions can meaningfully modulate the reservoir. The presentations also suggest that immune fitness among study participants, coupled with this kind of treatment, may determine who is best able to control HIV without medication.
Researchers found that among both groups of participants (those receiving N-803 alone and those receiving it in combination with bNAbs), the HIV reservoir declined by roughly 37 percent after five doses of N-803, and there were signs of increased viral transcription that are consistent with latency reversal. To date, four participants have remained off ART for at least the duration of the ATI (24 weeks), and their ATI remains ongoing. Researchers further identified that N-803 reshaped the immune landscape in ways associated with HIV control, shifting CD8⁺ T cells toward a more stem-like, less exhausted state among the entire cohort.
“In spite of huge advances in the treatment of HIV, we remain unable to cure it, which means that people living with HIV have to rely on taking ART for their entire lives,” said oral presenter Rachel Scheck, M.D., Weill Cornell Medicine. “Identifying a cure that would contribute to the end of HIV is a high priority for ACTG; these studies provide us with important insights into the HIV reservoir and T cell states.” Poster presenter Itzayana Miller, Ph.D. student, Weill Cornell Medicine, added: “We now look forward to determining who is most likely to benefit from N-803 and how different treatment courses, alone or in combination with other interventions, can be optimized to support durable HIV control without ART.”
Research into Aging with HIV
ACTG will also present a poster based on findings from a subset of HAILO (A5322), a long-term observational study of older adults living with HIV that addressed issues related to aging and inflammation. The poster, Inhibiting Glycan Degradation Attenuates HIV-Induced Inflammaging and Cognitive Impairment will be part of the presentations made on Wednesday, July 29, from 12:00 - 1:00 pm BT in the poster exhibit hall (Leila B. Giron, et al.). The study found that the breakdown of glycans (complex sugars found throughout the body) may contribute to chronic inflammation, accelerated aging, and cognitive decline in people living with HIV. This breakdown process involves the loss of galactose and sialic acid, two sugars known for their anti-inflammatory properties, and may be more severe in women than in men. In experiments involving mice, treatments that prevented the removal of these protective sugars (namely, sialidase inhibitors, a class of drugs often used to treat influenza) reduced inflammation, slowed age-related biological changes (such as aging-associated epigenetic changes), and protected against memory impairment.
“People living with HIV can develop problems with memory and thinking even when standard treatment keeps the virus under control,” said presenting author Leila B. Giron, M.Sc., Ph.D., Northwestern University. “It is important that we understand why this happens because these changes can reduce quality of life and may worsen with age. The findings we’re presenting at AIDS 2026 suggest that these sugar molecules could help identify people at risk, and that protecting them may offer a new approach for treating brain and aging-related complications linked to long-term viral infection.”
These data were also recently published in Cell: “Inhibiting glycan degradation prevents HIV-induced inflammaging and cognitive impairment.”
A5386 is led by Timothy Wilkin, M.D., M.P.H., University of California San Diego (study chair) and Marina Caskey, M.D., The Rockefeller University and Richard Brad Jones, Ph.D., Weill Cornell Medicine (study vice chairs). N-803 is provided by ImmunityBio and the bNAbs are provided by Gilead Sciences. A5322 is led by Frank Palella, M.D., Northwestern University and Katherine Tassiopoulos D.Sc., M.P.H., Harvard School of Public Health (study co-chairs) and Susan Koletar, M.D. (study vice chair). ACTG is led by Dr. Eron and Rajesh T. Gandhi, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (ACTG Vice Chair). It is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, which also funds ACTG) under award numbers UM1 AI068636, UM1 AI107716, and UM1 AI068634.
About ACTG
ACTG is the world’s largest and longest running clinical trials network focused on HIV and other infectious diseases and the people living with them. It is funded by NIAID and collaborating NIH Institutes. Founded in 1987, ACTG conducts research and implementation science studies to improve the management of HIV and its comorbidities; develop a cure for HIV; and discover treatments for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and emerging infectious diseases. It comprises thousands of dedicated researchers, staff, and community members who are pursuing research into novel treatments and cures for infectious diseases at 65 locations across four continents, with the ultimate goal of advancing science that meaningfully impacts the lives of the people we serve.
Disclaimer: This content is solely the responsibility of ACTG and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Media Contact:
Jenna Conley, ACTG
jenna@conleycommunications.net
