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Review
. 2021 Dec 28;11(1):77.
doi: 10.3390/cells11010077.

Immunotherapy with Cell-Based Biological Drugs to Cure HIV-1 Infection

Gabriel Siracusano  1 , Lucia Lopalco  1
Affiliations
Review

Immunotherapy with Cell-Based Biological Drugs to Cure HIV-1 Infection

Gabriel Siracusano et al. Cells. .

Abstract

Since its discovery 35 years ago, there have been no therapeutic interventions shown to enable full HIV-1 remission. Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) has achieved the sustained control of HIV-1 replication, however, the life-long treatment does not eradicate long-lived latently infected reservoirs and can result in multiple side effects including the development of multidrug-resistant escape mutants. Antibody-based treatments have emerged as alternative approaches for a HIV-1 cure. Here, we will review clinical advances in coreceptor-targeting antibodies, with respect to anti-CCR5 antibodies in particular, which are currently being generated to target the early stages of infection. Among the Env-specific antibodies widely accepted as relevant in cure strategies, the potential role of those targeting CD4-induced (CD4i) epitopes of the CD4-binding site (CD4bs) in eliminating HIV-1 infected cells has gained increasing interest and will be presented. Together, with approaches targeting the HIV-1 replication cycle, we will discuss the strategies aimed at boosting and modulating specific HIV-1 immune responses, highlighting the harnessing of TLR agonists for their dual role as latency reverting agents (LRAs) and immune-modulatory compounds. The synergistic combinations of different approaches have shown promising results to ultimately enable a HIV-1 cure.

Keywords: CCR5; CD4bs; CD4i; HIV blocking antibodies; TLR; antibodies; neutralizing antibodies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graphical sketch of current approaches for cell-based immunotherapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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