Engaging innate immunity in HIV-1 cure strategies. Review uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) can block multiple stages of the HIV-1 life cycle to prevent progression to AIDS in people living with HIV-1. However, owing to the persistence of a reservoir of latently infected CD4+ T cells, life-long ART is necessary to prevent viral rebound. One strategy currently under consideration for curing HIV-1 infection is known as 'shock and kill'. This strategy uses latency-reversing agents to induce expression of HIV-1 genes, allowing for infected cells to be cleared by cytolytic immune cells. The role of innate immunity in HIV-1 pathogenesis is best understood in the context of acute infection. Here, we suggest that innate immunity can also be used to improve the efficacy of HIV-1 cure strategies, with a particular focus on dendritic cells (DCs) and natural killer cells. We discuss novel latency-reversing agents targeting DCs as well as DC-based strategies to enhance the clearance of infected cells by CD8+ T cells and strategies to improve the killing activity of natural killer cells.

publication date

  • November 25, 2021

Research

keywords

  • HIV Infections
  • HIV-1

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85119880084

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1038/s41577-021-00649-1

PubMed ID

  • 34824401

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 22

issue

  • 8