ReviewHIV cure research: Advances and prospects

•Some cases of cure or remission of infection have boosted the search for an HIV cure.•cART intensification has not shown significant impact in the reservoirs, but early cART may limit them.•Strategies to purge the reservoirs face difficulties linked to the complexity of latency mechanisms and drug non-specificity.•Repression of reservoirs or cell manipulation to render them less permissive to HIV may facilitate HIV remission.•HIV cure/remission may require boosting immune responses while keeping inflammation in check.

Thirty years after the identification of HIV, a cure for HIV infection is still to be achieved. Advances of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) in recent years have transformed HIV infection into a chronic disease when treatment is available. However, in spite of the favorable outcomes provided by the newer therapies, cART is not curative and patients are at risk of developing HIV-associated disorders. Moreover, universal access to antiretroviral treatment is restricted by financial obstacles. This review discusses the most recent strategies that have been developed in the search for an HIV cure and to improve life quality of people living with HIV.