Partnerships

The HUSH Foundation has partnered with the following organizations to help more children with HIV/AIDS and further our Pediatric
HIV/AIDS Research.
Our Partners
Each summer, we provide children and adolescents with HIV/AIDS the
opportunity to attend Camp Heartland, free of charge. While at camp,
children  experience a joyous summer filled with fun activities with like
children from 40 different states within the United States.
Copyright © 2008 The HUSH Foundation®. All Rights Reserved.
Summer Camp
HIV/AIDS Research

                    








              Children and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trial Unit

We support an HIV/AIDS Clinical Trial program that enrolls 50 HIV-infected children/teens per year in phase I, phase II and
phase III trials. Subjects are recruited from existing patient populations and through community outreach efforts by culturally
sensitive individuals. Obstetrical and perinatal research is conducted at hospitals allied and/or associated with pediatric
hospitals. Pregnant women, children, and adolescents of minority groups, predominately African-Americans and Latinos,
comprise close to 90 percent of the patient population and hemophiliac children and teens are included in clinical studies.
The AIDS Clinical Trials Unit facilitates basic as well as clinical research and provides ancillary services for HIV-infected
children, teens, and their families in addition to fulfilling its primary mission as a clinical trials unit.
                                         
                    Vaccines and Immunotherapies in HIV/AIDS Research
                                       
Diseases remain the leading cause of death for children around the world, and researchers are exploring new ways to use
vaccine technology to eliminate this threat.

The immune system sometimes continues its attack long after it eliminates the invading disease. Immune system dysfunction
is involved in autoimmune disorders as varied as asthma, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis. While
autoimmune disorders often develop during childhood, they are debilitating chronic illnesses that last a lifetime. As
discoveries in the laboratory shed light on the healing potential of the immune system, vaccines will be developed to correct
autoimmune disorders by halting the immune system’s mistaken attack on the body itself.

New vaccines also are being developed to help the immune system recognize and eliminate cancer. Unlike infectious diseases
against which the immune system is prepared to defend, cancer evades detection. Unfortunately, traditional treatments
designed to kill cancer also destroy healthy cells, leaving the immune system weak and the body defenseless.

Because numerous diseases involve a component of immune system dysfunction, we support the Vaccines and
Immunotherapies Affinity Group – including researchers from such different fields as cancer research, gene therapy,
immunology, infectious disease, rheumatology and vaccine development – is applying shared knowledge toward a better
understanding of the immune system and its powers to protect and heal.

Their infectious disease researchers are focused on developing a safe and effective vaccine against rotavirus, the most
common cause of diarrhea and dehydration in children. One product of this research is a newly developed oral vaccine
delivery system that could one day eliminate the need for needles, making vaccines easier and more cost effective to
administer, especially in the developing world.

In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved RotaTeq®, the rotavirus vaccine developed at our partner Children’
s Hospital and The Wistar Institute and further developed by Merck & Co. The federal government’s Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices now recommends that the vaccine become part of the routine infant immunization schedule.

Another infectious disease with global impact is HIV. Standard vaccines for HIV have so far proven ineffective because the
virus has evolved to include sophisticated methods for evading detection by the immune system. Our researchers are working
to understand how HIV invades cells and evades detection by the immune system and designing compounds and delivery
systems that target the cells that HIV invades.

For example, investigators are supported by NIH-funded program project, translational research, and biotechnology grants to
develop new therapeutics and vaccines against HIV. Clinical trials of pediatric AIDS treatments in development are conducted
through the Philadelphia International Maternal Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Unit, located
collaboratively at our partner, Children’s Hospital and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Refining treatments for neuroblastoma, the most common and deadly form of solid-tumor cancer in children, is another focus
of our research affinity group. Until recently, the standard of care for children with neuroblastoma – a combination of surgery,
chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation – achieved survival rates of only 35 percent. Investigators are focused on new
ways to boost the natural immune response of patients during recovery from stem cell transplantation, a time when patients
are extremely vulnerable to life-threatening infections or
relapse of cancer.

In addition, our researchers are developing a better understanding of autoimmune disorders, the role of genetics and the
ways in which infectious diseases alter immune system functioning. Investigators are working to develop immune therapies for
juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, dermatomyositis and lupus using an immune therapy designed for treating lymphoma. In
addition, our researchers are investigating the high vaccine failure in children with certain genetic disorders causing
immunodeficiency and autoimmunity, and are developing strategies for enhancing vaccine delivery.

Links:

Integrated Preclinical Clinical Program on Neurokinin1-R Antagonists for HIV Therapy

Vaccines and Immunotherapies Research Affinity Group

Novel Prophylactic HIV VaccinesBased on rAAV Vectors

Vaccine Education Center

Suicide of HIV-1 Infected Cells by TAT-inducible Expression of shRNA
Clinical Research Core Facilities Links
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At Camp children and adolescents receive needed understanding, counsel and support...
Participate in fun activities...
Meet others just like them and make lasting friends...
Thanks to Cars 4 Causes, The HUSH Foundation now accepts Cars, Trucks, Boats, RV's, Motor Homes, Motorcycles, Off
Road Vehicles, Heavy Equipment and most other motorized vehicle donations.



CLICK HERE or the image below to Donate your Vehicle.
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