Presence of an inducible HIV-1 latent reservoir during highly active antiretroviral therapy

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Abstract
Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the form of triple combinations of drugs including protease inhibitors can reduce the plasma viral load of some HIV-1-infected individuals to undetectable levels, it is unclear what the effects of these regimens are on latently infected CD4+T cells and what role these cells play in the persistence of HIV-1 infection in individuals receiving such treatment. The present study demonstrates that highly purified CD4+T cells from 13 of 13 patients receiving HAART with an average treatment time of 10 months and with undetectable (in vitro. Phenotypic analysis of HIV-1 produced by activation of latently infected CD4+T cells revealed the presence in some patients of syncytium-inducing virus. In addition, the presence of unintegrated HIV-1 DNA in infected resting CD4+T cells from patients receiving HAART, even those with undetectable plasma viremia, suggests persistent active virus replicationin vivo.