Quantitation of Replication-Competent HIV-1 in Populations of Resting CD4 ⁺ T Cells

Abstract

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has led to a significant decrease in morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected patients. However, HIV integrates into the genome of CD4(+) T cells, generating pools of long-lived cells that are reservoirs of latent HIV. Two main subsets of CD4(+) T cells, central memory and transitional memory cells, were reported to be major reservoirs of HIV infection. However, this study primarily measured the HIV DNA content, which also includes defective proviruses that would not be able to replicate and initiate new rounds of infection. By analyzing the replication-competent virus in both cell subsets, we showed that transitional memory cells may not be a durable reservoir in patients on successful ART.