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A retrovirus is an infectious agent belonging to the RNA virus family Retroviridae. These viruses encode a reverse transcriptase enzyme that converts the RNA genome into DNA during the retroviral life cycle, which then becomes integrated into the host genome.
Finding a cure for HIV-1 infection, once considered elusive, now represents a major priority for the global microbiology research community. In this article, Armani-Tourret, Lichterfeld and colleagues highlight recent advances in understanding immunological vulnerabilities of virally infected cells that persist lifelong and represent the major barrier to a cure.
Endogenous retroviruses (ERV) can induce immune responses and the control of these viruses uses immune mechanisms also involved in autoimmunity. Here, the authors characterize the control of ERVs in mice and show age-associated B cell control and nucleic acid sensing TLR pathway involvement.
The HIV-1 capsid behaves like a nuclear transport receptor entering and traversing an FG phase, with its interior serving as a cargo container, bypassing an otherwise effective barrier to viral infection.
Dissection of the nuclear pore complex provides a model in which the HIV capsid enters the nucleus through karyopherin mimicry, a mechanism likely to be conserved across other viruses.
HIV remission has been seen in people living with HIV after the cessation of antiretroviral therapy and is termed post treatment control. Here Passaes and colleagues present an SIV model that shows early initiation of antiretroviral therapy after SIV infection is linked to improved post treatment control upon cessation of antiviral therapy and associates with the expansion of an enhanced memory pool of CD8 + T cells‘.
In this study, Armani-Tourret et al. show that the combination of panobinostat and pegylated interferon-α2a transforms the structure and composition of the HIV-1 reservoir and could potentially counter it.
The authors developed a refillable, long-acting subcutaneous nanofluidic antiretroviral delivery implant that conferred protection against infection with simian–human immunodeficiency virus in rhesus macaques.
A new paper in Science reports that human genomes encode a large repertoire of retroviral envelope-derived proteins, with potential roles in protecting from infection by other retroviruses.
Pandemic viruses cause major global disease burden and economic disruption. We investigated pandemic HIV-1(M) to understand its unique characteristics by comparing it with HIV strains that did not achieve pandemic human-to-human spread. We observed structural adaptations in the HIV-1(M) capsid that reduce detection by innate immune sensors.
Two recent studies highlight the potential of broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for the long-term control of HIV in the absence of antiretroviral therapy.