Lithium attenuates HIV-1 latency reversal in an autophagy-independent way.

ABSTRACT: The major barrier to eradicate HIV-1 is its persistence in latently infected cells. Inducing deep latency to prevent HIV-1 reactivation in the absence of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) remains a primary goal. Here, we evaluated the repurposing of lithium as an HIV-1 latency-promoting drug (LPA). We demonstrated that lithium attenuates virus reactivation in three cell models for HIV-1 latency. Lithium induced autophagy in CD4⁺ T cells via an mTOR-independent pathway and found that autophagy is not absolutely required to attenuate HIV-1 reactivation. Latently infected CD4⁺ T_CM cells expressing a dual fluorescent HIV-1 reporter and treated with lithium increased productively infected cells but rendered them resistant to reactivation. A similar trend wa

SUBMITTER: Abdalla AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12719738 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature