Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017:2017:6096134.
doi: 10.1155/2017/6096134. Epub 2017 Apr 26.

Advancements in Developing Strategies for Sterilizing and Functional HIV Cures

Wei Xu  1 , Haoyang Li  1 , Qian Wang  1 , Chen Hua  1 , Hanzhen Zhang  1 , Weihua Li  2 , Shibo Jiang  1   2   3 , Lu Lu  1
Affiliations
Review

Advancements in Developing Strategies for Sterilizing and Functional HIV Cures

Wei Xu et al. Biomed Res Int. 2017.

Abstract

Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) has been successful in prolonging lifespan and reducing mortality of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, the eradication of latent HIV reservoirs remains a challenge for curing HIV infection (HIV cure) because of HIV latency in primary memory CD4+ T cells. Currently, two types of HIV cures are in development: a "sterilizing cure" and a "functional cure." A sterilizing cure refers to the complete elimination of replication-competent proviruses in the body, while a functional cure refers to the long-term control of HIV replication without treatment. Based on these concepts, significant progress has been made in different areas. This review focuses on recent advancements and future prospects for HIV cures.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Two major strategies for HIV cure by using genome editing. (a) Gene therapy strategies to eradicate HIV reservoirs. Using ZFN, TALENS, or CRISPR to eliminate the HIV provirus in latent cells. (b) Gene therapy strategies to prevent susceptible cells from HIV infection. Using gene editing to modify the receptor of susceptible cells and protect them from HIV infection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Potential combination of “Shock & Kill,” therapeutic vaccine, and vectored immunoprophylactic strategies to eradicate HIV reservoirs. Specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) combined with immunotherapies, such as therapeutic vaccines, broadly neutralizing antibodies, and nonneutralizing antibodies with ADCC effect, may lead to eradication of the latent HIV reservoir.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Deeks S. G., Lewin S. R., Havlir D. V. The end of AIDS: HIV infection as a chronic disease. The Lancet. 2013;382(9903):1525–1533. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61809-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stein J., Bonsmann M. S. G., Streeck H. Barriers to HIV cure. HLA. 2016;88(4):155–163. doi: 10.1111/tan.12867. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kimata J. T., Rice A. P., Wang J. Challenges and strategies for the eradication of the HIV reservoir. Current Opinion in Immunology. 2016;42:65–70. doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2016.05.015. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chun T.-W., Engel D., Berrey M. M., Shea T., Corey L., Fauci A. S. Early establishment of a pool of latently infected, resting CD4+ T cells during primary HIV-1 infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 1998;95(15):8869–8873. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.15.8869. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chun T.-W., Carruth L., Finzi D., et al. Quantification of latent tissue reservoirs and total body viral load in HIV-1 infection. Nature. 1997;387(6629):183–188. doi: 10.1038/387183a0. - DOI - PubMed

Substances