🔴 Day 2 Live Update
An insightful presentation by Dr. Deepak Kaushal on “Concurrent TB and HIV Therapies Control TB Reactivation during Co-infection but not Chronic Immune Activation – Implications for the Development of Host-Directed Therapies for the Mtb/HIV Co-infected.”
Dr. Kaushal is a Professor at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and a leading researcher in tuberculosis and TB/HIV co-infection. His research programme uses nonhuman primate models to investigate TB and SIV/HIV co-infection, with the goal of improving understanding of disease mechanisms and supporting the development of vaccines and treatment strategies.
His presentation draws on research published in Nature Communications in 2025, which examined the effects of concurrent TB and HIV therapies in a rhesus macaque model of M. tuberculosis/SIV co-infection. The study found that combined antiretroviral and TB preventive therapy improved clinical and microbiological outcomes and controlled TB reactivation, but did not fully restore pulmonary CD4+ T-cell immunity or eliminate chronic immune activation.
The findings point to persistent immune abnormalities that can remain despite effective control of bacterial and viral burden. The study identified continued immune activation, exhaustion and inflammation in the lungs, providing evidence for further investigation of host-directed approaches that could complement conventional TB and HIV treatment.
This presentation highlights the complexity of TB/HIV co-infection and the importance of understanding both pathogen control and the host immune response when considering future therapeutic strategies.
The presentation is part of Session VII: TB-HIV Co-Infection & Precision Epidemiology at Frontiers in TB & Mycobacteriology 2026.
This conference is organized by Impact Research Communications (IRC)
More info: https://tb.ircconferences.net/ | Frontiers in TB & Mycobacteriology
