Controlling HIV-1: Non-Coding RNA Gene Therapy Approaches to a Functional Cure.

ABSTRACT: The current treatment strategy for HIV-1 involves prolonged and intensive combined antiretroviral therapy (cART), which successfully suppresses plasma viremia. It has transformed HIV-1 infection into a chronic disease. However, despite the success of cART, a latent form of HIV-1 infection persists as integrated provirus in resting memory CD4(+) T cells. Virus can reactivate from this reservoir upon cessation of treatment, and hence HIV requires lifelong therapy. The reservoir represents a major barrier to eradication. Understanding molecular mechanisms regulating HIV-1 transcription and latency are crucial to develop alternate treatment strategies, which impact upon the reservoir and provide a path toward a "functional cure" in which there is no detectable viremia in the absence of cART. N

SUBMITTER: Ahlenstiel CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4584958 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature