A New Small-Molecule Compound, Q308, Silences Latent HIV-1 Provirus by Suppressing Tat- and FACT-Mediated Transcription.

ABSTRACT: Eliminating the latent HIV reservoir remains a difficult problem for creating an HIV functional cure or achieving remission. The "block-and-lock" strategy aims to steadily suppress transcription of the viral reservoir and lock the HIV promoter in deep latency using latency-promoting agents (LPAs). However, to date, most of the investigated LPA candidates are not available for clinical trials, and some of them exhibit immune-related adverse reactions. The discovery and development of new, active, and safe LPA candidates for an HIV cure are necessary to eliminate residual HIV-1 viremia through the block-and-lock strategy. In this study, we demonstrated that a new small-molecule compound, Q308, silenced the HIV-1 provirus by inhibiting Tat-mediated gene transcription and selectively downregul

SUBMITTER: Zhou CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8597754 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature