Persistence of episomal HIV-1 infection intermediates in patients on highly active anti-retroviral therapy.

ABSTRACT: Treatment of HIV-1-infected individuals with a combination of anti-retroviral agents results in sustained suppression of HIV-1 replication, as evidenced by a reduction in plasma viral RNA to levels below the limit of detection of available assays. However, even in patients whose plasma viral RNA levels have been suppressed to below detectable levels for up to 30 months, replication-competent virus can routinely be recovered from patient peripheral blood mononuclear cells and from semen. A reservoir of latently infected cells established early in infection may be involved in the maintenance of viral persistence despite highly active anti-retroviral therapy. However, whether virus replication persists in such patients is unknown. HIV-1 cDNA episomes are labile products of virus infection and

SUBMITTER: Sharkey ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9513718 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature