2016 Articles

Insufficient Evidence for Rare Activation of Latent HIV in the Absence of Reservoir-Reducing Interventions

Hill, Alison L.; Rosenbloom, Daniel I. S.; Siliciano, Janet D.; Siliciano, Robert F.

A priority for HIV cure research is measuring latent infection that can fuel viral recrudescence if patients cease antiretroviral therapy (ART). One important quantity that is difficult to measure is the rate at which latently infected cells activate, giving rise to spreading infection [1]. Pinkevych et al. recently estimated this rate by analyzing several clinical cohorts and concluded that one cell activates every 6 days [2]. This rate is 24-fold lower than our previous estimate of 4 cells/day [1], resulting in far more optimistic predictions for the prospects of reservoir-reducing therapy. We question their estimation approach and suggest that a higher rate is likely for most infected individuals.