Understanding Shock and Kill

A potential HIV cure

Abstract

The proviral latency of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a principal obstacle to curing the infection and halting disease pathogenesis. In fact, HIV infection remains
incurable due to a long-lived latent reservoir of HIV within the central nervous system (CNS), as well as the most impervious reservoir, CD4+ T cells. This review evaluates “shock and kill” therapy, an emerging curative strategy that
targets HIV reservoirs. The novel approach aims to “shock” latently infected cells by inducing HIV viral expression through latency reversing agents (LRA). Upon reactivation,
the “kill” method refers to the termination of virus-infected cells by employing strategies involving HIV-specific CD8+ T cells. The potential benefits of purging immune cells of
HIV-infected individuals and limiting the size of the latent reservoir must be assessed to advance the “shock and kill” technique.