Protein Delivery of Cell-Penetrating Zinc-Finger Activators Stimulates Latent HIV-1-Infected Cells.

ABSTRACT: Despite efforts to develop effective treatments for eradicating HIV-1, a cure has not yet been achieved. Whereas antiretroviral drugs target an actively replicating virus, latent, nonreplicative forms persist during treatment. Pharmacological strategies that reactivate latent HIV-1 and expose cellular reservoirs to antiretroviral therapy and the host immune system have, so far, been unsuccessful, often triggering severe side effects, mainly due to systemic immune activation. Here, we present an alternative approach for stimulating latent HIV-1 expression via direct protein delivery of cell-penetrating zinc-finger activators (ZFAs). Cys2-His2 zinc-fingers, fused to a transcription activation domain, were engineered to recognize the HIV-1 promoter and induce targeted viral transcription. Fol

SUBMITTER: Perdigao PRL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7317221 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature