Paired quantitative and qualitative assessment of the replication-competent HIV-1 reservoir and comparison with integrated proviral DNA.

ABSTRACT: HIV-1-infected individuals harbor a latent reservoir of infected CD4⁺ T cells that is not eradicated by antiretroviral therapy (ART). This reservoir presents the greatest barrier to an HIV-1 cure and has remained difficult to characterize, in part, because the vast majority of integrated sequences are defective and incapable of reactivation. To characterize the replication-competent reservoir, we have combined two techniques, quantitative viral outgrowth and qualitative sequence analysis of clonal outgrowth viruses. Leukapheresis samples from four fully ART-suppressed, chronically infected individuals were assayed at two time points separated by a 4- to 6-mo interval. Overall, 54% of the viruses emerging from the latent reservoir showed gp160 env sequences that were identical to

SUBMITTER: Lorenzi JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5150408 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature