[Therapeutic approaches targeting HIV reservoirs]

Abstract

The establishment of latent infection in long-lived cells is the main obstacle to HIV cure or sustained remission without antiretroviral therapy. The most developed therapeutic strategies, in current clinical trials are mainly based on the concept of "shock and kill". They include latency reversing agents (LRAs) to re-activate HIV transcription that can be associated with immunomodulatory treatments. The objective is to eliminate virus-producing cells or to induce the control of HIV after anti-retroviral therapy cessation. HIV reservoir or cancer cells have a number of mechanisms in common. They can escape the immune system and persist by overexpressing survival molecules. This review presents a synthesis of current therapeutic approaches as well as the therapeutic perspectives related to the field of oncology.

Keywords: HIV reservoir; clinical trials; latency reversing agents; remission; shock and kill; viral eradication.