HIV Replication at Low Copy Number and its Correlation with the HIV Reservoir: A Clinical Perspective.

The efficacy of combination therapy (antiretroviral therapy-ARV) is demonstrated by the high rates of viral suppression achieved in most treated HIV patients. Whereas contemporary treatments may continuously suppress HIV replication, they do not eliminate the latent reservoir, which can reactivate HIV infection if ARV is discontinued. The persistence of HIV proviral DNA and infectious viruses in CD4+ T cells and others cells has long been considered a major obstacle in eradicating the HIV virus in treated patients. Moreover, recent studies have demonstrated the persistence of HIV replication at low copies in most patients on suppressive ARV. The source of this ‘residual viraemia’ and whether it declines over years of therapy remain unknown. Similarly, little is known regarding the biological relationships between the HIV reservoir and viral replication at low copies. The question of whether this ‘residual viraemia’ represents active replication or the release of non-productive virus fr...