Gene Therapy to Eliminate the HIV Latent Reservoir

Alison Hill and Daniel Scholes Rosenbloom of Harvard University in the U.S., working with Seyed Alireza Rabi and Greg Laird of Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., propose to engineer a gene therapy that delivers a viral transcription factor to reactivate CD4 cells that are latently infected with HIV along with a suicide gene that is triggered by HIV protein production to effectively kill the infected cells. This therapy could allow complete clearance of HIV from the body and a permanent cure for HIV infection.