HIV-1 reservoirs during suppressive therapy
The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) 20 years ago has dramatically reduced
morbidity and mortality associated with HIV-1. Initially there was hope that ART would be
curative, but it quickly became clear that even though ART was able to restore CD4+ T cell
counts and suppress viral loads below levels of detection, discontinuation of treatment
resulted in a rapid rebound of infection. This is due to persistence of a small reservoir of
latently infected cells with a long half-life, which necessitates life-long ART. Over the past …
morbidity and mortality associated with HIV-1. Initially there was hope that ART would be
curative, but it quickly became clear that even though ART was able to restore CD4+ T cell
counts and suppress viral loads below levels of detection, discontinuation of treatment
resulted in a rapid rebound of infection. This is due to persistence of a small reservoir of
latently infected cells with a long half-life, which necessitates life-long ART. Over the past …
The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) 20 years ago has dramatically reduced morbidity and mortality associated with HIV-1. Initially there was hope that ART would be curative, but it quickly became clear that even though ART was able to restore CD4+ T cell counts and suppress viral loads below levels of detection, discontinuation of treatment resulted in a rapid rebound of infection. This is due to persistence of a small reservoir of latently infected cells with a long half-life, which necessitates life-long ART. Over the past few years, significant progress has been made in defining and characterizing the latent reservoir of HIV-1, and here we review how understanding the latent reservoir during suppressive therapy will lead to significant advances in curative approaches for HIV-1.
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