Progress towards an HIV cure: update from the 2014 International AIDS Society Symposium

Biomedical research has led to profound advances in the treatment of HIV infection. Combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) now provides the means to readily control viral infection, and people living with HIV who receive timely and effective ART can expect to benefit from a life expectancy comparable to uninfected individuals. Nevertheless, despite effective treatment, ART does not fully restore the immune system and importantly HIV persists indefinitely in latent reservoirs, resulting in the need for life-long treatment. The challenges and limits of life-long treatment have spurred significant scientific interest and global investment into research towards an HIV cure. The International AIDS Society (IAS) 2014 Towards an HIV cure symposium brought together researchers and community to discuss the most recent advances in our understanding of latency and HIV reservoirs, and the clinical approaches towards an HIV cure under current investigation. This report summarizes and reviews some of the major findings discussed during the symposium.