Experimental approaches to the study of HIV-1 latency.
Viral latency is a reversibly non-productive state of infection that allows some viruses to evade host immune responses. As a consequence of its tropism for activated CD4(+) T cells, HIV-1 can establish latent infection in resting memory CD4(+) T cells, which are generated when activated CD4(+) T cells return to a quiescent state. Latent HIV-1 persists as a stably integrated but transcriptionally silent provirus. In this state, the virus is unaffected by immune responses or antiretroviral drugs, and this latent reservoir in resting CD4(+) T cells is a major barrier to curing the infection. Unfortunately, there is no simple assay to measure the number of latently infected cells in a patient, nor is there an entirely representative in vitro model in which to explore the molecular mechanisms of latency. This Review will consider current approaches to the analysis of HIV-1 latency both in vivo and in vitro.
Han
Yefei
Y
Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 879 BRB 733 N. Broadway, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
Wind-Rotolo
Megan
M
Yang
Hung-Chih
HC
Siliciano
Janet D
JD
Siliciano
Robert F
RF
D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D011533:Proviruses / Q000502:physiology; D016662:Virus Integration; D017735:Virus Latency