HIV-infected T cell
FLICKR, NIAID
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have designed a test that is able to uncover an HIV viral reserve concealed within T cells following antiretroviral treatment, according to a study published yesterday (May 29) in Nature Medicine. The authors say that this assay is faster, more feasible, and cheaper compared with the quantitative viral outgrowth assay, or Q-VOA, which can also detect this dormant viral cache but may not accurately depict its quantity.
According to the authors, this viral reserve, though small, represents a considerable hurdle to establishing a cure. “Globally there are substantial efforts to cure people of HIV by finding ways to eradicate this latent reservoir of virus that stubbornly persists in patients, despite our best therapies,” Phalguni Gupta, senior author on the report, said in a news release. “But those efforts aren’t going to progress if we don’t have tests that are sensitive and practical ...
