Validation Of The Acceptability And Reliability Of Anal Swabs Used For Cytological Screening Among HIV+ MSM
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$76,108.00
Summary
This study will be screening HIV-positive men who have sex with men for Anal Squamous Intra-epithelial Lesions.These lesions, if left untreated, could develop into anal cancer. The study will take anal cytology swabs from 1000 HIV-positive men who attend the HIV clinic at St Vincent's hospital. Those men who are identified as having high-grade lesions (HSIL) or atypical cells (ASCUS) will be offered follow up by the principal investigator, Dr Richard Hillman.
Immune Correlates Of Protection Against HCV - A Potential Role For NK Cells And NKR Expression On T Lymphocytes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$72,754.00
Summary
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) poses a major public health problem with ~200 million people infected worldwide and no available vaccine. Injecting drug users (IDUs) are the major risk group, with 75% of infected individuals progress to chronic infection, which can then lead to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, about 20% of a given cohort of IDUs remains uninfected. This project is therefore focused on understanding the innate immune mechanisms behind this protection.