Nafees Ahmad, PhD

Pediatric AIDS is one of the fastest growing aspects of the AIDS pandemic in the United States and worldwide, as a greater number of women in the childbearing age group are infected with HIV-1. Infants born to mothers infected with HIV-1 are at risk of acquiring HIV-1 infection and subsequently developing AIDS. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by the year 2000, 10 million children will have been born HIV infected. Mother-to-infant transmission of HIV-1 mainly occurs perinatally at an estimated rate of more than 30 percent. In addition, AIDS-related or unrelated cancers can influence HIV-1 transmission and infection in mothers and infants. However, the molecular mechanisms of maternal transmission of HIV-1 are not known, which makes it difficult to define strategies for prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection in children. Genetic studies from my laboratory suggested that a minor subtype of maternal virus from the genetically heterogeneous virus population was transmitted to the infant. The minor HIV-1 genotype predominates initially as a homogeneous population in the infant and then becomes diverse as the infant grows older. Moreover, we don’t understand the molecular and biological properties of the HIV-1 that is transmitted from mother to infant. 

 

Our hypothesis is that specific molecular and biological properties of HIV-1 are critical determinants of perinatal transmission. A better characterized HIV-1 transmitted from mother to infant will contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in maternal transmission of HIV-1. Furthermore, the elucidation of the viral determinants involved in maternal transmission may allow AIDS researchers to develop methods to prevent mother-to-infant transmission by means of perinatal interventions, such as gene therapy, immunotherapy, antiviral therapy, and a preventive vaccine.