Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
5806856 Current Opinion in Virology 2013 8 Pages PDF
Abstract
Intensive combined antiretroviral therapy successfully suppresses HIV-1 replication and AIDS disease progression making infection manageable, but it is unable to eradicate the virus that persists in long-lived, drug-insensitive and immune system-insensitive reservoirs thus asking for life-long treatments with problems of compliance, resistance, toxicity and cost. These limitations and recent insights into latency mechanisms have fueled a renewed effort in finding a cure for HIV-1 infection. Proposed eradication strategies involve reactivation of the latent reservoir upon induction of viral transcription followed by the elimination of reactivated virus-producing cells by viral cytopathic effect or host immune response. Several molecules identified by mechanism-directed approaches or in large-scale screenings have been proposed as latency reversing agents. Some of them have already entered clinical testing in humans but with mixed or unsatisfactory results.
Related Topics
Life Sciences Immunology and Microbiology Virology
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