Smoking HIV Out of Hiding (IMAGE)

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Smoking HIV Out of Hiding

Caption

This graphic shows how HIV can get trapped in an endosome, or pocket, on a CD4+T cell (centre cell). Researchers previously thought this was a dead-end for HIV, because the virus wasn't able to actually replicated. But the new CEMIR research shows that once HIV is in the endosome and is destroyed, its fragments activate a substance called TLR8, which in turn triggers inflammation. The inflammation can then activate HIV in dormant cells, or boost the production of HIV in infected cells. Although this may sound like a bad thing, it offers researchers a way to smoke out HIV in dormant cells, which is an important step in developing a cure.

Credit

CEMIR, the Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

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