A conversation with Philip Goulder about the recent article ‘Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission’. In this episode of To Immunity and Beyond, we discuss a prospective study of 284 children from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who were treated very early with antiretroviral therapy (ART) after mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Unexpectedly, female fetuses were more susceptible to in utero transmission, but of 5 children identified who maintained undetectable levels of HIV despite unscheduled ART interruption, all were males. Distinct viruses were transmitted to males and females - females but not males being susceptible to type I interferon-resistant, low fitness viruses. These findings indicate the central role that early life innate immune sex differences play in HIV cure/remission in children.
Full article: Bengu, N., Cromhout, G., Adland, E. et al. Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission. Nat Med 30, 2796–2804 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03105-4 Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
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A conversation with Philip Goulder about the recent article ‘Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission’. In this episode of To Immunity and Beyond, we discuss a prospective study of 284 children from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who were treated very early with antiretroviral therapy (ART) after mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Unexpectedly, female fetuses were more susceptible to in utero transmission, but of 5 children identified who maintained undetectable levels of HIV despite unscheduled ART interruption, all were males. Distinct viruses were transmitted to males and females - females but not males being susceptible to type I interferon-resistant, low fitness viruses. These findings indicate the central role that early life innate immune sex differences play in HIV cure/remission in children.
Full article: Bengu, N., Cromhout, G., Adland, E. et al. Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission. Nat Med 30, 2796–2804 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03105-4 Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
‘Dangerous Matter’: A New Opera on Vaccine Science, Memory, and Innovation
To Immunity and Beyond
32 minutes
6 months ago
‘Dangerous Matter’: A New Opera on Vaccine Science, Memory, and Innovation
A conversation with Zakiya Leeming and Rachel Hindmarsh about the Thanks for the Memories project and a new opera. The Thanks for the Memories public engagement programme is about to premier a new opera, ‘Dangerous Matter’, at the Royal Northern College of Music on June 24th, 2025, inspired both by the story of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and by research into immune memory. On this episode we talk to composer Zakiya Leeming and facilitator Rachel Hindmarsh about how they developed the opera, and find out about their wider creative programme of science and music engagement with secondary school students.
The project would like to thank the Wellcome Trust, who have supported the project through an Enriching Engagement Grant. The project would also like to thank researchers at the University of Oxford and University of Manchester who have supported scientific engagement throughout the project.
Further reading: · Project website: https://www.immunology.ox.ac.uk/about/public-engagement/thanks-for-the-memories-t4tm
· Zakiya Leeming article on the process of writing the opera: https://oxfordroadcorridor.com/medicine-memory-and-the-music-of-defiance/
· Dawn, on the Morning after the Storm - collaboration between Zakiya and the International Severe and Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) during Covid pandemic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0l3S04TfFY; Guardian article about the performance https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jun/16/musical-composition-inspired-by-uk-covid-research-to-have-world-premiere · PRISM website https://www.rncm.ac.uk/research/research-activity/research-centres-rncm/prism/
To Immunity and Beyond
A conversation with Philip Goulder about the recent article ‘Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission’. In this episode of To Immunity and Beyond, we discuss a prospective study of 284 children from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who were treated very early with antiretroviral therapy (ART) after mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Unexpectedly, female fetuses were more susceptible to in utero transmission, but of 5 children identified who maintained undetectable levels of HIV despite unscheduled ART interruption, all were males. Distinct viruses were transmitted to males and females - females but not males being susceptible to type I interferon-resistant, low fitness viruses. These findings indicate the central role that early life innate immune sex differences play in HIV cure/remission in children.
Full article: Bengu, N., Cromhout, G., Adland, E. et al. Sustained aviremia despite anti-retroviral therapy non-adherence in male children after in utero HIV transmission. Nat Med 30, 2796–2804 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03105-4 Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
