Nonhuman primate models of HIV reveal reservoir dynamics and promising interventions

HIV cure research seeks to eradicate the virus from people with HIV (PWH) or provide posttreatment control (PTC) of virus sufficient to block new transmissions and provide better health outcomes. Nonhuman primate (NHP) models of HIV have proven instrumental to our understanding HIV infection. This review highlights the remarkable contributions of NHPs in both corroborating data from PWH and expanding our understanding beyond what is possible in a clinical setting by utilizing novel virus models, immune activating therapies, and direct in vivo intervention to clear the viral reservoir.

The benefits of NHP models for HIV cure research encompasses both basic research and a platform to test novel preclinical therapeutic interventions. Recent findings have improved our basic understanding of how and when the HIV reservoir is established, the mechanisms of how it is maintained, and the dynamics and origins of off-ART rebound. Further, NHP studies have allowed the testing of various intervention strategies, for both PTC and reservoir reduction, including interventions that can and are being tested in PWH as well as models that cannot be used in humans, but can provide mechanistic insights into reservoir dynamics that can help develop future clinical interventions.

NHP research has proven highly useful in all aspects of HIV disease. The exciting new virus models and intervention approaches described here have and will continue to meaningfully contribute to the goal of HIV cure.