Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2019 Apr 1;5(2):122-124.
doi: 10.1016/S2055-6640(20)30054-6.

Revisiting the 'sterilising cure' terminology: a call for more patient-centred perspectives on HIV cure-related research

Luke Newton  1 , Raúl Necochea  2 , David Palm  3   4 , Jeff Taylor  4   5 , Liz Barr  6 , Hursch Patel  1 , Anshula Nathan  1 , Jo Gerrard  7 , Laurie Sylla  8 , Brandon Brown  9 , Karine Dubé  1
Affiliations
Editorial

Revisiting the 'sterilising cure' terminology: a call for more patient-centred perspectives on HIV cure-related research

Luke Newton et al. J Virus Erad. .

Abstract

The literature on HIV therapeutics research is rife with terminology associating 'sterilisation' with HIV cure. We find connotations of the word 'sterilising' problematic for the HIV cure research field. In this viewpoint, we review associations of sterilising with concepts of disinfection or cleansing, as well as coerced sterilisation. We discuss emerging findings from socio-behavioural research that show aversion from people living with HIV towards the 'sterilising cure' nomenclature. We call for more collaborations with people with HIV as partners to help define what would be a more acceptable terminology for describing an HIV cure.

Keywords: HIV cure research; patient centredness; sterilising cure; terminology.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Xu W, Li H, Wang Q et al. . Advancements in developing strategies for sterilizing and functional HIV cures. Biomed Res Int 2017; 2017: 6096134. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Spragg C, De Silva Feelixge H, Jerome KR. Cell and gene therapy strategies to eradicate HIV reservoirs. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 2016; 11: 442– 449. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allers K, Hütter G, Hofmann J et al. . Evidence for the cure of HIV infection by CCR5Δ32/Δ32 stem cell transplantation. Blood 2011; 117: 2791– 2799. - PubMed
    1. Yukl S, Boritz E, Busch M et al. . Challenges in detecting HIV persistence during potentially curative interventions: a study of the Berlin patient. PLoS Pathog 2013; 9: e1003347. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nishimura Y, Igarashi T, Haigwood NL et al. . Transfer of neutralizing IgG to Macaques 6 h but not 24 h after SHIV infection confers sterilizing protection: implications for HIV-1 vaccine development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2003; 100: 15131– 15136. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types