Abstract

HAYES, Alexander M.L.. Future approaches to clearing the latent human immunodeficiency virus reservoir: Beyond latency reversal. South. Afr. j. HIV med. (Online) [online]. 2020, vol.21, n.1, pp.1-6. ISSN 2078-6751.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajhivmed.v21i1.1089.

BACKGROUND: While combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) allows near-normal life expectancy for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), it is unable to cure the infection and so life long treatment is required OBJECTIVES: The main barrier to curing HIV is the latent reservoir of cells, which is stable and resistant to cART METHOD: Current approaches under investigation for clearing this reservoir propose a 'Shock and Kill' mechanism, in which active replication is induced in latent cells by latency reversal agents, theoretically allowing killing of the newly active cells RESULTS: However, previous studies have failed to achieve depletion of the T central memory cell reservoir, are unable to target other latent reservoirs and may be causing neurological damage to participants CONCLUSION: Future approaches to clearing the latent reservoir may bypass latency reversal through the use of drugs that selectively induce apoptosis in infected cells. Several classes of these pro-apoptotic drugs have shown promise in in vitro and ex vivo studies, and may represent the basis of a future functional cure for HIV

Keywords : HIV; latency reversal; viral reservoir; pro-apoptotic drugs; cART.

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