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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

10/10 🙏

Huge thanks to all participants, investigators, and INSTINCT/GESIDA10918 study sites.

Funded by Gilead/GESIDA (ISR-17-10294).
#HIV #HIVResearch #INSTINCT #ClinicalTrials #InfectiousDiseases

Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

9/10 📚

Together with studies like SALSA, TANGO, iPrEx, and DISCOVER, INSTINCT reinforces that:

🔸 TDF has weight/lipid-suppressive effects
🔸 TAF shows no independent effects on weight
🔸 Modern regimens have comparable metabolic profiles

But results to date have not been uniform (PASODOBLE).

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

8/10 💭
As noted in the accompanying editorial by @JohnKoethe in the same CID issue: the discussion has evolved from "TAF promotes weight" → "TDF suppresses weight" → "TAF is neutral"
Our data support this latest conclusion.
doi.org/10.1093/cid/...

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

7/10 🔍

Why does this matter? For years, there was debate whether TAF had "obesogenic" properties when compared to TDF.

This study:

✅ Isolates TAF's effect (adding it to a 2-drug regimen) ✅ Eliminates confounders (no simultaneous changes in other ARVs)

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

6/10 🦠

Virologic efficacy: Maintained in >95% of participants in both groups. No differences in viral suppression or rebounds.

Safety: Well tolerated, mild and balanced adverse events.

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

5/10 💊
Metabolic profile: Minimal and similar changes in:
• Total cholesterol
• LDL/HDL
• Triglycerides
• Renal function (eGFR)

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

4/10 ⚖️

Weight: This is crucial. Annualized weight change:
• BIC/FTC/TAF: +0.3%
• DTG/3TC: +0.2%
No significant difference (p=0.895). Only 23% vs 17% gained ≥5% weight (p=NS).

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

3/10 📊

Inflammation 🔥: No significant differences in any inflammatory biomarker (sCD14, IL-6, D-dimer, sCD163, hsCRP, Kyn/Trp ratio) between groups over 96 weeks.

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

2/10 🎯

Design: 141 participants with virologic suppression on stable DTG/3TC were randomized 1:1 to:
• Continue DTG/3TC
• Switch to BIC/FTC/TAF
Follow-up: 96 weeks

Hypothesis: Could "intensification" to 3 drugs reduce residual inflammation and metabolic parameters?

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 1d

1/10 🧵 Proud to share results from the INSTINCT trial, published in @cidjournal.bsky.social!

A randomized study addressing a key question: Does TAF have independent effects on weight and inflammation in people with HIV?

Spoiler: no
🧪
doi.org/10.1093/cid/...

Validate User

doi.org

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks to the organizers, assistants, international speakers and sponsors to keep alive this crucial event for the #HPV community in Spain 🤗

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Reposted by Sergio Serrano-Villar

Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale (IIBM) @iib.uam.es · Aug 12

El @csic.es difunde la concesión de la ayuda de proyectos sinérgicos de la Comunidad de Madrid a nuestro compañero Dr. Bruno Sainz junto con el Dr. Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social del #IRYCIS
Enhorabuena a los dos grupos de investigadores👏

@dicma-csic.bsky.social

CSIC @csic.es · Aug 5

🔬 El proyecto del @iibm-csic-uam.bsky.social, con el #IRYCIS, investiga sobre el microbioma intestinal de pacientes con respuestas excepcionales a la inmunoterapia

👉 El objetivo final es descubrir fármacos para superar la resistencia en tumores refractarios a inmunoterapia

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Reposted by Sergio Serrano-Villar

Hannah Harris Green @whatsitlike.me · Aug 7

“The Trump administration is, for the first time in history, substantially intervening inside NIH to bring it under political control,” according to a senior NIH official who spoke on condition of anonymity. My latest.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘It’s really, really bad right now’: NIH scientists dismayed by Trump cuts

Researchers say scientific community is in state of whiplash and accuse president of trying to ‘destroy’ vital work

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Sergio Serrano-Villar

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Aug 8

🧠 Lithium and Alzheimer’s

A new study found that lithium protects the brain. In mice, early lithium loss triggered Alzheimer’s-like damage, but a special lithium salt reversed it.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm #Alzheimers 🧪

Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease - Nature

Lithium has an essential role in the brain and is deficient early in Alzheimer’s disease, which can be recapitulated in mice and treated with a novel lithium salt that restores the physiological level...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Sergio Serrano-Villar

Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale (IIBM) @iib.uam.es · Jul 25

📣Bruno Sainz from #IIBM @csic.es receives substantial funding in the call for synergistic projects (CAM), together with @serranovillar.bsky.social -Ramón y Cajal Hospital/IRYCIS

➡️Reprogramming The Tumor Microenvironment Through Microbiome-Derived Immunomodulatory Molecules

Congratulations Bruno!!👏

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jul 28

🧬 Our new paper in TMAID: Chronic Chagas disease disrupts gut microbiome metabolism.

🔻 TCA, β-oxidation & haem pathways fall
🔺 Benznidazole partly restores microbial function
💡 Biomarkers & targets for microbiota therapies
📄 doi.org/10.1016/j.tm...

🙌@infecciosasryc.bsky.social #Chagas #Microbiome🧪

Redirecting

doi.org

Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jul 28

Beautiful research, thank you!🎉🎊

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jul 18

📣 HIV responses can’t hinge on political shifts.
✊🏾 We need stable, committed funding—not abandonment.🧪
#PEPFAR #HIV #FundingCrisis #GlobalHealth #IAS2025

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jul 18

💥 #IAS2025 | #HIV Global Alert 💥

The abrupt US funding cuts are already hitting hard:
📉 Mozambique: 25% drop in ART initiations/month
📉 Johannesburg: 30% drop in testing, diagnoses & ART/year
🌍 Latin America & Caribbean: 87% of orgs lost funding

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jul 17

🧬 Gut-heart axis 2.0. 💥🦠

A gut-bacterial metabolite (imidazole propionate) doesn’t just correlate—it causes #atherosclerosis.

🔎 Mechanism: macrophage inflammasome activation via mitochondrial ROS.

🧪Pharmacologic inhibition reversed vascular inflammation in vivo.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Imidazole propionate is a driver and therapeutic target in atherosclerosis - Nature

Imidazole propionate produced by gut microbiota is associated with atherosclerosis in mouse models and in humans, and causes the development of atherosclerosis through activation of the imidazoline-1 ...

www.nature.com

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jul 15

🚨 A gut bacterium, Hominenteromicrobium YB328, boosts PD-1 cancer immunotherapy by activating dendritic cells & T cells.

🧬 Precision microbiome meets precision medicine.

Now heading to clinical trials 🧪

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

We’re tracking this closely as part of our RUMBA study.

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jul 4

Took 4,800 years and a few stubborn molars, but we finally got the first full genome from ancient Egypt.

Mummies: still better preserved than most backup hard drives.🧪🧟‍♀️
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

First human genome from ancient Egypt sequenced from 4,800-year-old teeth

Forty years after the first effort to extract mummy DNA, researchers have finally generated a full genome sequence from an ancient Egyptian.

www.nature.com

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jul 4

Where do academics go when they leave for industry?

The top 10 destinations are all tech giants—led by Google, Amazon, Meta & Microsoft. Pharma and biotech don’t even make the list. Fascinating shift in the R&D landscape. 🧪
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Transparent research: can big tech learn from big pharma?

The results of technology research and development must find their way into the published literature. New models of regulation could help.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Sergio Serrano-Villar

Paul Sax @paulsaxmd.bsky.social · Jun 27

The isolated hepatitis B core antibody:
HBsAg ⛔
anti-HBs ⛔
anti-HBc ✅
What does it mean, and what should you do?
A mystery solved (mostly). Plus, a poll and a couple of great videos. #IDSky blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-obser...

The Mystery of the Isolated Hepatitis B Core Antibody, Solved

(A post inspired by years of doing eConsults, an extremely common query about hepatitis B testing, and the latest BritBox series, “Core Antibody Confidential,” starring a grizzled detective with a fad...

blogs.jwatch.org

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Sergio Serrano-Villar @serranovillar.bsky.social · Jun 24

💥 Big news! We’ve secured €750K for the RUMBA project through the Synergistic Projects call.

We’ll decode microbiota-derived molecules to boost immunotherapy in lung cancer. The microbiome takes the stage! 🦠🫁 🧪

#microbiome #immunotherapy #lungcancer

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