HIV hiding spots revealed in treatment pause study
NCT ID NCT05419024
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Sep 17, 2026 · Updated 13 times
Summary
This study aims to understand where HIV hides in the body when people stop their daily antiretroviral therapy (ART) for a short time. Fifty adults with HIV will either stay on ART or pause it for up to 90 days. Researchers will use PET/CT scans and take small tissue samples from lymph nodes to measure virus levels and immune responses.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this study could reveal where HIV hides in the body, pointing toward new strategies to control or eliminate the virus.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-phase study focused on observation, not treatment. The treatment interruption carries risks of viral rebound and immune decline.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 2
Tests whether the treatment actually works, and watches for side effects, in a larger group.
- Participants
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About 50 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jan 2023
- Expected to finish
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Aug 2029
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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A government research agency
The lead sponsor is the US National Institutes of Health.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 100 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
* INCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible for this study: 1. Aged \>=18 years. 2. People with HIV-1 documented using US Food and Drug Administration-approved screening and confirmatory or supplemental assays in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recommended testing strategies. 3. Established medical care outside NIH. 4. Able to provide informed consent. 5. Willing to allow samples to be stored for future research. 6. Willing to allow genetic testing. 7. Undergoing cART using recommended, alternative, or other regimens as defined by "Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in Adults and Adolescents with HIV." 8. Viral RNA \<40 copies/mL plasma by conventional assay for at least 3 years (blips \[transient increases within 6 weeks\] of \<200 copies/mL are allowable when succeeding viral levels return to \<40 copies/mL on subsequent testing). 9. CD4 cell count \>=350 cells/microliter. 10. Willing to interrupt ART for up to 90 days. 11. Willing to use a barrier method of contraception, such as condoms or dental dams, when engaging in sexual activity, or remain abstinent during ATI and after re-initiating ART until viral re-suppression is achieved, to prevent pregnancy and transmission of HIV. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants who meet any of the following criteria will be excluded from this study: 1. Active intercurrent illness or infection, including fever \>38 degrees Celsius. 2. Known history of initiating ART during the first year of infection with HIV. Participants will be considered to have initiated ART within 1 year of infection as defined by documented screening/confirmatory seroconversion (positive testing within one year of non-reactive HIV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). 3. Pregnant. 4. Breastfeeding. 5. Currently undergoing therapy with drugs that, in the judgment of the investigators, may interfere with biodistribution of FDG, including prednisolone, valproate carbamazepine, phenytoin, phenobarbital, and catecholamines. 6. Undergoing ART that is incompatible with an ATI. 7. Has undergone PET/CT within the last 6 months. 8. History of poorly controlled diabetes that, in the judgement of the investigators, would prevent completion of PET/CT scan. 9. Vaccination within the previous 4 weeks. 10. History of ATI within the past 1 year. 11. Has comorbid illness for which, in the judgment of the investigators, an ATI will represent elevated risk. 12. Active opportunistic infection as defined by the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV. 13. Significant active substance abuse or psychiatric illness that may, in the judgment of the investigator, interfere with study visits or procedures. 14. Allergy to planned anesthetic agents that are expected to be used. For local anesthetics, this is lidocaine. For sedation, this is midazolam and fentanyl. 15. Currently undergoing chronic systemic steroid therapy (corticosteroid nasal spray or inhaler, topical steroid use, and hormone replacement are acceptable). 16. Contraindication to use of IV contrast. 17. History of developing keloids. 18. Renal impairment: HIV-related kidney disease or estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) CKD-EPI equation \<60 mL/min/1.73 m\^2. For individuals undergoing therapy with cobicistat or integrase strand inhibitors, GFR may be estimated using cystatin C or creatinine. 19. Active or chronic hepatitis B virus infection, with detectable hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis B virus DNA, or both. 20. Active hepatitis C virus infection, with detectable virus RNA. 21. History of HIV-associated dementia or progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. 22. Documented ARV drug resistance that, in the judgment of the investigator, would pose a risk of virologic failure should additional mutations develop during the study. 23. History of cardiovascular event or at high risk of an event (e.g., atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease score \>20%) by a currently accepted risk calculator such as the 2023 AHA Predicting Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Events (PREVENT) or the 2018 ASCVD Risk Estimator Plus. 24. History of AIDS-defining illness according to CDC criteria within the past 3 years. 25. Hepatic impairment: aminotransferase \>2.5 x the upper limit of normal or documented history of cirrhosis. 26. Any condition that, in the judgment of the investigator, contraindicates participation in this study.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
RECRUITINGBethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
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