An Anti‐CD45RO Immunotoxin Kills Latently Infected Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) CD4 T Cells in the Blood of HIV‐Positive Persons

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Abstract
Highly active antiretroviral therapy has decreased the morbidity and mortality of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, but latently infected cells remain for prolonged periods. CD4+ CD45RO+ T cells are a major latent virus reservoir in HIV-infected persons. Replicationcompetent, latently HIV-infected T cells can be generated in vitro by infecting peripheral blood mononuclear cells with HIV and then eliminating the HIV-producing cells with an anti-CD25 immunotoxin (IT). The CD25- latently infected cells then can be eliminated with an anti-CD45RO IT. This study determined whether this IT also could kill latently infected CD4 T cells from HIV-infected persons with or without detectable plasma viremia. The results show that ex vivo treatment of cells from HIV-positive persons by anti-CD45RO IT reduces the frequency of both productively and latently infected cells. In contrast, CD4+ CD45RA+ naive T cells and a proportion of CD4+ CD45ROlo memory T cells are spared.

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