Research Offers Hope for HIV+ Cancer Patients

Charles S. Craik, PhD

By Steve Tokar from UCSF.edu

A proposed new treatment to help HIV/AIDS patients suffering from Kaposi’s sarcoma, the most common form of cancer in people with HIV, is now one step closer to becoming a reality.

Charles S. Craik, PhD, a professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, has received new support to develop his latest research on the herpes virus that causes Kaposi’s sarcoma through a $100,000 T1 Translational Catalyst Award offered through UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Craik, who works in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, is known for leading the team that identified HIV protease inhibitors in the late 1980s.

An especially promising aspect of Craik’s research is its potential to also lead to a new treatment for the cytomegalovirus (CMV), a related herpes virus that can lead to pneumonia and gastrointestinal, retinal and neurological diseases in infants and in transplant recipients and other immunocompromised individuals.

Read more at UCSF.edu