Recommendations for measuring HIV reservoir size in cure-directed clinical trials

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Wistar Institute; Douglas Richman Richman, VA San Diego Healthcare System; Robert F. Siliciano, Johns Hopkins University; Michael C. Nussenzweig, Rockefeller University; Bonnie Howell, Merck & Co Inc; Javier Martinez-Picado, IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute; Nicholas Chomont, Universite de Montreal; Katherine J. Bar, University of Pennsylvania; Xu G. Yu, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT & Harvard; Mirko Paiardini, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-09-07
• Publisher: NATURE RESEARCH
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: 2020
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1022-1
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: NATURE MEDICINE
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 9
• Start Page: 1339
• End Page: 1350
• Grant/Funding Information: See publication for full funding statement.
• Keywords: DNA INTEGRATION; ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY; CD4(+) T-CELLS; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology; LATENT RESERVOIR; QUANTITATIVE ASSAY; Research & Experimental Medicine; LYMPHOID-TISSUE; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; PLASMACYTOID DENDRITIC CELL; Medicine, Research & Experimental; VIRUS TYPE-1 RNA; IMMUNE ACTIVATION; VIRAL RESERVOIRS; Cell Biology
• Research Categories: Biology, Cell; Health Sciences, Immunology; Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

Therapeutic strategies are being clinically tested either to eradicate latent HIV reservoirs or to achieve virologic control in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. Attaining this goal will require a consensus on how best to measure the numbers of persistently infected cells with the potential to cause viral rebound after antiretroviral-therapy cessation in assessing the results of cure-directed strategies in vivo. Current measurements assess various aspects of the HIV provirus and its functionality and produce divergent results. Here, we provide recommendations from the BEAT-HIV Martin Delaney Collaboratory on which viral measurements should be prioritized in HIV-cure-directed clinical trials.