BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Flushing out HIV

October 22, 2009 7:00 AM UTC

Highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, keeps HIV in check for many patients. But it doesn't fully eliminate the virus, which can lie dormant in CD4+ T helper cells, making the therapeutic cocktail a life-long necessity. A team at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine now has identified a compound that reactivates latent HIV, potentially providing a way to completely eliminate the virus.1However, toxicity issues mean further translational work will be necessary before the finding can be advanced into the clinic.

As part of its life cycle, HIV integrates into the genome of infected CD4+ cells. Most infected cells weaken and die as the virus hijacks their metabolic machinery. However, a small fraction of infected cells manage to subdue viral replication and instead enter a resting state, sequestered in the lymph nodes...