IL-7 is a potent and proviral strain-specific inducer of latent HIV-1 cellular reservoirs of infected individuals on virally suppressive HAART.

ABSTRACT: The persistence of HIV-1 in virally suppressed infected individuals on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) remains a major therapeutic problem. The use of cytokines has been envisioned as an additional therapeutic strategy to stimulate latent proviruses in these individuals. Immune activation therapy using IL-2 has shown some promise. In the present study, we found that IL-7 was significantly more effective at enhancing HIV-1 proviral reactivation than either IL-2 alone or IL-2 combined with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in CD8-depleted PBMCs. IL-7 also showed a positive trend for inducing proviral reactivation from resting CD4(+) T lymphocytes from HIV-1-infected patients on suppressive HAART. Moreover, the phylogenetic analyses of viral envelope gp120 genes from induced viruses indic

SUBMITTER: Wang FX 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC539197 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature