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Long-term follow-up studies confirm the stability of the latent reservoir for HIV-1 in resting CD4+ T cells

Abstract

Latent HIV-1 persists in resting memory CD4+ T cells, even in patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). It has been unclear how stable this latent reservoir is and whether its persistence reflects replenishment by low-level viremia. Here we show that even in treated patients who have had no detectable viremia for as long as 7 years, the reservoir decays so slowly (t1/2 = 44 months) that eradication is unlikely.

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Figure 1: Extremely slow decay of the latent reservoir in patients on HAART.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Barnett for coordinating patient visits. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grant AI43222 to R.F.S. and by a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

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Correspondence to Robert F Siliciano.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Siliciano, J., Kajdas, J., Finzi, D. et al. Long-term follow-up studies confirm the stability of the latent reservoir for HIV-1 in resting CD4+ T cells. Nat Med 9, 727–728 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm880

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