A study team led by investigators from Simon Fraser University in Canada have made a key discovery on how viral factors, such as HIV subtypes, impact the size of the virus reservoirs in individuals with HIV. This finding provides new understanding on latent infections kept in check with combination antiretroviral therapy and may help shape research into eradicating and curing HIV infections.
While there is no cure for HIV, daily use of combination antiretroviral therapy medications suppresses the viral load in the blood and body fluids of those infected with HIV and reduces the risk of transmitting the virus; however, the viral reservoir remains in the body and can re-activate at any time if combination antiretroviral therapy is discontinued.
In a new study published in the Journal of Virology, investigators examined viral samples from 30 male study participants in Canada aged 22 to 59 years with recent HIV infections who were taking anti-HIV medications to understand factors that determine HIV reservoir size, or the number of cells that are latently infected with the HIV virus.
Investigators have previously studied how the various clades, or subtypes, of HIV impact disease onset, progression, symptoms, and related side effects. In Canada and the United States, HIV clade B is the most prevalent subtype.
Previous research has found that those with clade B have larger HIV reservoirs compared to individuals with HIV in Uganda with clade A or D, who can have HIV reservoirs that are 3 times smaller than those with clade B. Smaller reservoirs are associated with HIV remission and post-treatment virologic control, and early combination antiretroviral therapy initiation limits HIV reservoir size.