Is gene therapy a good therapeutic approach for HIV-positive patients?

Despite advances and options available in gene therapy for HIV-1 infection, its application in the clinical setting has been challenging. Although published data from HIV-1 clinical trials show safety and proof of principle for gene therapy, positive clinical outcomes for infected patients have yet to be demonstrated. The cause for this slow progress may arise from the fact that HIV is a complex multi-organ system infection. There is uncertainty regarding the types of cells to target by gene therapy and there are issues regarding insufficient transduction of cells and long-term expression. This paper discusses state-of-the-art molecular approaches against HIV-1 and the application of these treatments in current and ongoing clinical trials.