Insights to redirect leading HIV cure strategy
"To date viral-host networks include protein and mRNA interactions between viruses and their hosts at later stages of gene expression, but our discovery of genetically coupled promoters is novel. They present an additional layer of regulatory synchrony between virus and host, established and poised before either expresses their protein products," explained Roy Dar, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Illinois. Latent or dormant HIV infected cell reservoirs have been identified as the major barrier towards a cure due to their ability to spontaneously reactivate after removal of antiretroviral therapy. Leading strategies for eradication of HIV attempt to reactivate the whole latent reservoir and clear it with current drug cocktails, a process referred to as 'shock and kill' therapy. "Promoters of genes coded within our DNA and the HIV-1 viral promoter which initiates active replication of the virus are strongly coupled in their regulation leading to c...