Establishment of novel cell lines latently infected with human immunodeficiency virus 1

Many human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) researchers focus on the developing new anti-reservoir therapy to eradicate HIV-1 provirus from the HIV-1-infected patients. HIV-1 provirus is the major obstacle for effective HIV-1 treatment because it integrates into the host genome and can produce a virus progeny after stopping highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We established two novel cell lines latently infected with HIV-1 by limiting dilution cloning of A3.01 cells infected with HIV-1. Analysis of the flanking sequence of HIV-1 proviral DNA integrated into chromosomal cellular DNA revealed that proviral DNA was inserted into different sites of different chromosomes in the two examined cell lines. In these lines, virus reactivation could be induced by a phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) treatment that resulted in a marked increase of the production HIV-1 p24 antigen and appearance of the infectious virus. The novel cell lines latently infected with HIV-1 represent further tool for the study of molecular mechanisms of viral latency and development of anti-reservoir therapy of HIV-1 infection.