Complex decay dynamics of HIV virions, intact and defective proviruses, and 2LTR circles following initiation of antiretroviral therapy.

ABSTRACT: In persons living with HIV-1 (PLWH) who start antiretroviral therapy (ART), plasma virus decays in a biphasic fashion to below the detection limit. The first phase reflects the short half-life (<1 d) of cells that produce most of the plasma virus. The second phase represents the slower turnover (t _1/2 = 14 d) of another infected cell population, whose identity is unclear. Using the intact proviral DNA assay (IPDA) to distinguish intact and defective proviruses, we analyzed viral decay in 17 PLWH initiating ART. Circulating CD4⁺ T cells with intact proviruses include few of the rapidly decaying first-phase cells. Instead, this population initially decays more slowly (t _1/2 = 12.9 d) in a process that largely represents death or exit from the ci

SUBMITTER: White JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8833145 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature