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Updated: May 20, 2026

High Throughput In Vitro Assessment of Latency Reversing Agents on HIV Transcription and Splicing
Published on: January 22, 2019
The development of immune-modulating compounds to disrupt HIV latency
Anna Lisa Remoli1, Giulia Marsili, Angela Battistini
1Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00161, Rome, Italy. annalisa.remoli@iss.it
Abstract:
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has proved highly effective in suppressing HIV-1 replication and disease progression. Nevertheless, ART has failed to eliminate the virus from infected individuals. The main obstacle to HIV-1 eradication is the persistence of cellular viral reservoirs. Therefore, the "shock-and-kill" strategy was proposed consisting of inducing HIV-1 escape from latency, in the presence of ART. This is followed by the elimination of reactivated, virus-producing cells. Immune modulators, including protein kinase C (PKC) activators, anti-leukemic drugs and histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) have all demonstrated efficacy in the reactivation of latent virus replication. This review will focus on the potential use of these small molecules in the "shock and kill" strategy, the molecular basis for their action and the potential advantages of their immune-modulating activities.
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