Hit-and-run stimulation: a novel concept to reactivate latent HIV-1 infection without cytokine gene induction.

ABSTRACT: Current antiretroviral therapy (ART) efficiently controls HIV-1 replication but fails to eradicate the virus. Even after years of successful ART, HIV-1 can conceal itself in a latent state in long-lived CD4(+) memory T cells. From this latent reservoir, HIV-1 rebounds during treatment interruptions. Attempts to therapeutically eradicate this viral reservoir have yielded disappointing results. A major problem with previously utilized activating agents is that at the concentrations required for efficient HIV-1 reactivation, these stimuli trigger high-level cytokine gene expression (hypercytokinemia). Therapeutically relevant HIV-1-reactivating agents will have to trigger HIV-1 reactivation without the induction of cytokine expression. We present here a proof-of-principle study showing that t

SUBMITTER: Wolschendorf F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2919022 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature