Lying in Wait Even after therapy forces HIV in the blood down to undetectable levels, the virus still lurks elsewhere—ready to storm back if given the chance
Mark Hooper

Key Concepts

• Current drug regimens can dramatically suppress HIV in patients, but none of these agents can completely eliminate the virus.
• To eradicate HIV from infected individuals, researchers must figure out where the virus hides and how to hit it in those places.
• Recent findings have exposed some of HIV’s refuges, suggesting new therapeutic targets.

In contrast to the failed attempts at developing a vaccine against HIV, efforts to provide drug therapies stand as a great success. More than 25 agents have been approved thus far, and the right combinations can suppress replication of the virus, often keeping blood levels so low as to be undetectable by standard tests. These powerful drug cocktails, collectively termed highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, have prolonged life and health in countless infected individuals. Yet vexingly, today’s treatments cannot actually cure the infection. If for any reason therapy is interrupted, the virus rapidly rebounds.

Figuring out how HIV manages to hang around in the company of these potent drugs is one of the most important tasks currently facing researchers. Over the past decade investigators have gleaned key insights into this mystery. The answers, we hope, will ultimately reveal whether complete eradication of the virus in a patient is feasible.

   
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