Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026
07:18
High Throughput In Vitro Assessment of Latency Reversing Agents on HIV Transcription and Splicing
Published on: January 22, 2019
HIV latency: present knowledge, future directions.
Xavier Contreras1, Tina Lenasi, B Matija Peterlin
1University of California San Francisco, 533 Parnassus avenue, Room U432, 94143, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Future Virology
|May 19, 2009
Summary
Current HIV therapies cannot eliminate the virus because it hides in latent reservoirs. Future research must focus on understanding and purging these latent reservoirs to achieve a complete cure for HIV infection.
Area of Science:
- Virology
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Current antiretroviral therapies effectively suppress Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) replication but do not eradicate the virus from infected individuals.
- HIV establishes latent reservoirs, primarily in resting memory CD4+ T cells, which are insensitive to standard treatment and pose a significant barrier to cure.
- Understanding the mechanisms driving HIV latency and identifying the specific cellular reservoirs are critical priorities for developing curative strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the current understanding of HIV latency, including the mechanisms responsible for its establishment and maintenance.
- To identify the key cellular reservoirs where latently infected HIV resides.
- To discuss potential future therapeutic strategies aimed at purging these latent reservoirs and achieving HIV eradication.
Main Methods:
- This review synthesizes existing scientific literature on HIV latency.
- It analyzes data from preclinical and clinical studies investigating the nature of latent reservoirs.
- It explores emerging therapeutic approaches targeting HIV persistence.
Main Results:
- HIV latency is a complex phenomenon driven by multiple factors, including epigenetic modifications and cellular microenvironments.
- Latent reservoirs are established early in infection and are maintained by long-lived infected cells.
- Current knowledge regarding the precise composition and location of all latent reservoirs remains incomplete.
Conclusions:
- Complete eradication of HIV requires targeting and purging latent viral reservoirs.
- Further research into the mechanisms of latency and reservoir dynamics is essential.
- Novel therapeutic strategies, such as shock and kill approaches, hold promise for future HIV cure efforts.
Related Concept Videos
01:26Size and Structure of Viral Genomes
Viral genomes exhibit remarkable diversity in size, structure, and composition, influencing their replication strategies and interactions with host cells. These genomes consist of either DNA or RNA and may be linear or circular. Additionally, they can be single-stranded or double-stranded, with each configuration affecting how the virus propagates within a host. RNA viruses, for instance, generally have smaller genomes than DNA viruses, a factor that contributes to their high mutation rates and...
01:10Retrovirus Life Cycles
Retroviruses have a single-stranded RNA genome that undergoes a special form of replication. Once the retrovirus has entered the host cell, an enzyme called reverse transcriptase synthesizes double-stranded DNA from the retroviral RNA genome. This DNA copy of the genome is then integrated into the host’s genome inside the nucleus via an enzyme called integrase. Consequently, the retroviral genome is transcribed into RNA whenever the host’s genome is transcribed, allowing the retrovirus to...