AIDS Research Center (ARC) is working on HIV and other retrovirus infections toward retroviral disease control. Along with tuberculosis and malaria, HIV infection is one of the three major infectious diseases in the world. Global HIV prevalence is in serious conditions, and even in Japan, the number of HIV-infected people is increasing. Despite advances in highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), the spread of HIV infection is still ongoing. HIV epidemic promotes viral replication facilitating emergence of mutations that result in viral drug resistance and immune escape. Thus, the importance of HIV containment is a global consensus.

A comprehensive strategy consisting of social prevention activities, vaccines, and therapeutics would be required for the control of HIV infection. Social prevention activities may be of prominent importance but are not sufficient for HIV control. Hence, development of a prophylactic AIDS vaccine is undoubtedly a key strategy for global HIV containment. For HIV control in Japan, in addition to the global strategy, integrated and consecutive approach including domestic social activities and therapeutics is an absolute requisite.

Therefore, ARC is promoting research with the following three objectives.
(1) Development of a prophylactic AIDS vaccine capable of preventing the global HIV spread
(2) Improvement of therapeutic regimens for HIV-infected people
(3) Establishment of the basis for domestic countermeasures against HIV prevalence

For development of a prophylactic AIDS vaccine, we have established an original AIDS model and are promoting research to elucidate the immune mechanism for HIV control. Our Sendai virus vector vaccine system is highly potent in inducing cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses and is now proceeding toward a clinical trial as an international joint project by International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

For improvement of therapeutic regimens, we have been examining drug-resistant strains in HIV-infected individuals with feedback of the results to the clinical field. We will continue this effort along with an attempt to investigate the side effects in long-term therapy. Furthermore, we are working on molecular basis for HIV replication to find new targets for viral control toward development of novel therapeutics.

For establishment of the basis for domestic countermeasures against HIV infection, ARC plays a central role in establishment of sensitive and accurate systems for diagnosis of HIV infection. Furthermore, we are promoting international epidemiological studies mainly in Asia and analyses of viral evolution. We have established a system for construction of infectious molecular HIV clones, which is useful for the analysis of fitness of HIV variants. At the request of JICA, we annually hold a training course, "Laboratory Techniques for Diagnosis and Monitoring of HIV Infection", for researchers and laboratory workers in African and Asian countries.