Where does HIV hide?
Extract: Following treatments that advocate the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs immediately after HIV infection were adopted, it soon became clear that long periods of time during which no viral load could be detected within the plasma of patients were often followed by dramatic increases in viral load. The location and exact nature of latent HIV reservoirs within infected individuals remains unclear. Aggressive "Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy" (HAART) regimens currently in use have proven effective in suppressing viral replication and containing viral loads, but the re-emergence of HIV infection following the activation of latent viral reservoirs, often in a drug resistant form, remains a barrier to effective long term therapy. The situation is complicated further by the toxicity of using suppressive antiretroviral drug treatments over prolonged periods of time. Strategies designed to deliberately reactivate latent HIV infection from within sites of archived infection, and subsequently eradicate actively replicating HIV represent a promising alternative to the use of long-term suppressive therapies. A better understanding of where latent HIV infections are located, both at the cellular and anatomical levels, and the factors governing which types of cells harbor these reservoirs will be critical to the success of such strategies.
Yang
Benjamin
B
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