Ex Vivo Characterization and Targeting of the Latent HIV Infected Reservoir to Cure HIV

Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) blocks intracellular human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication in CD4+ T-lymphocytes, but fails to eliminate latent HIV infected CD4+ T-lymphocytes. About 7 (range \<1-100) in 106 of these cells are latently infected and can cause reactivation of proviral HIV when cART is stopped. These latently infected cells form the reservoir and must be targeted in order to cure HIV. We would like to further investigate this reservoir and assess potential interventions to eradicate it. One promising option is to further study the influence of HIV latency disruptors (latency reversing agents, LRA) on the HIV infected reservoir. These agents are used in shock and kill strategies that disrupt latency by LRA followed by the selective (induced) killing of the reservoir cell due to viro-pathogenic effects. For accurate assessment of the reservoir and potentia