Researchers conducted yeast studies to examine a large library of human factors for binding to HIV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences responsible for virus expression, and identified several factors as potential regulators. They also confirmed that a subset of factors is controlled by HIV in infected cells by increasing and decreasing HIV expression. Despite the positive advances that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) therapy, commonly referred to as antiretroviral therapy (ART) or highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), has made in terms of the life expectancy of HIV-positive people, there is a cure for HIV or that acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) remains elusive. One of the greatest challenges in curing HIV is that there is a persistent latent reservoir of virus that is not the target of current antiretroviral treatments and that is hidden from immune cells. When treatment is stopped, this reservoir of virus allows for rapid recovery from HIV, said corresponding author Andrew J. Henderson, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at Boston University School of Medicine. Leading the establishment, maintenance, and reversal of HIV persistence, the researchers conducted studies in yeast to identify a large library of human factors that bind to the sequences responsible for HIV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). As a result, they identified several factors as potential regulators and confirmed that a subset of factors control HIV in infected cells by increasing and decreasing HIV expression.
Their study identified new transcription factors that affect HIV and provide insights into the cellular networks that affect the activation and suppression of various strains of HIV. According to the researchers, understanding the mechanisms that control HIV expression will provide information on HIV replication, latency and pathogenesis. By understanding the cellular pathways that control HIV, we could target them and alter the behavior of this latent reservoir.
