Researchers gain new insight on immune cells that harbor latent HIV virus

Drugs for HIV have become adept at suppressing infection, but they still can’t eliminate it. That’s because the medication in these pills doesn’t touch the virus’ hidden reserves, which lie dormant within infected white blood cells. Unlock the secrets of this pool of latent virus, scientists believe, and it may become possible to cure – not just control – HIV. In a study published on January 29 in Cell, researchers lead by Zanvil A. Cohn and Ralph M. Steinman Professor Michel C. Nussenzweig at Rockefeller University and their collaborators describe new insights on which cells likely do, and do not, harbor this lurking threat. “It has recently been shown that infected white blood cells can proliferate over time, producing many clones, all containing HIV’s genetic code. However, we found that these clones do not appear to harbor the latent reservoir of virus,” says study author Lillian Cohn a graduate student in Nussenzweig’s...