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HIV Survives Drug Onslaught By Hiding Out in T Cells

1997; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 278; Issue: 5341 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.278.5341.1227

1095-9203

Michael Balter,

HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions

AIDS RESEARCHPotent new cocktails of anti-HIV drugs have been leading a counterattack against HIV, pounding the virus down to undetectable levels in the blood of many HIV-positive patients. But in this issue (pp. [1291][1] and [1295][2]), two research teams report that while many patients taking these cocktails, known as combination therapy, for as long as 30 months show no signs of developing drug-resistant strains of HIV, they do still harbor latent virus in a small number of their T cells--immune cells that are HIV's primary target. And, in the test tube at least, these viruses can be induced to wake up and begin reproducing, simply by stimulating the T cells to become immunologically active--a condition known to be required for HIV to replicate. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/278/5341/1291 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/278/5341/1295