Cat and Mouse: HIV Transcription in Latency, Immune Evasion and Cure/Remission Strategies

Viruses

Mikaël Poirier¹  Aurélie Delannoy¹  Brendan Bell¹ 

[1] Département de Microbiologie et Infectiologie, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé and Centre de recherche du CHUS, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1E 4K8, Canada;

关键词: HIV;    latency;    transcription;    cure;    remission;    immune evasion;    immunotherapy;   

DOI  :  10.3390/v11030269

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

There is broad scientific and societal consensus that finding a cure for HIV infection must be pursued. The major barrier to achieving a cure for HIV/AIDS is the capacity of the HIV virus to avoid both immune surveillance and current antiretroviral therapy (ART) by rapidly establishing latently infected cell populations, termed latent reservoirs. Here, we provide an overview of the rapidly evolving field of HIV cure/remission research, highlighting recent progress and ongoing challenges in the understanding of HIV reservoirs, the role of HIV transcription in latency and immune evasion. We review the major approaches towards a cure that are currently being explored and further argue that small molecules that inhibit HIV transcription, and therefore uncouple HIV gene expression from signals sent by the host immune response, might be a particularly promising approach to attain a cure or remission. We emphasize that a better understanding of the game of “cat and mouse” between the host immune system and the HIV virus is a crucial knowledge gap to be filled in both cure and vaccine research.

【 授权许可】

Unknown