SEMINAR: Viral adaptation to host immune responses: a story about evolution, frequent flyer points and country music

More than 35 million people worldwide are infected with HIV including >22,000 Australians. Anti-HIV therapy can reduce mortality associated with infection but treatment does not provide a cure, is life-long and remains a substantial financial burden in Australia and worldwide. Harnessing immunological clearance as an alternative to ‘drugs for life’ could reduce this health and economic burden, as well as advance the global research efforts for HIV eradication. The main impediment to cure is the enormous diversity of HIV. A significant proportion of this variation is due to mutations in the HIV genome that allow the virus to escape from our immune response (viral adaptation). HIV adaptation to the host’s immune responses causes failure of otherwise potent natural and vaccine-induced immunity. The mechanisms of viral adaptation to T cell responses are fundamental concepts for host-pathogen interaction. Understanding these mechanisms will be critical to aid rational design of vaccine candidates for either preventative or therapeutic strategies for mutable pathogens such as HIV and others including Hepatitis C virus. In this seminar I will discuss updates from research projects undertaken in Perth and the US that demonstrate how we can utilise information gained from genomic and immunology studies aimed at the population and single-cell level to understand viral adaptation to these important human pathogens.