{"doi":"10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102853","title":"A targeted reactivation of latent HIV-1 using an activator vector in patient samples from acute infection","abstract":"BACKGROUND: During combined anti-retroviral treatment, a latent HIV reservoir persists within resting memory CD4 T cells that initiates viral recrudescence upon treatment interruption. Strategies for HIV-1 cure have largely focused on latency reversing agents (LRAs) capable of reactivating and eliminating this viral reservoir. Previously investigated LRAs have largely failed to achieve a robust latency reversal sufficient for reduction of latent HIV pool or the potential of virus-free remission in the absence of treatment. METHODS: We utilize a polyvalent virus-like particle (VLP) formulation called Activator Vector (ACT-VEC) to 'shock' provirus into transcriptional activity. Ex vivo co-culture experiments were used to evaluate the efficacy of ACT-VEC in relation to other LRAs in individuals diagnosed and treated during the acute stage of infection. IFN-γ ELISpot, qRT-PCR and Illumina MiSeq were used to evaluate antigenicity, latency reversal, and diversity of induced virus respectively. FINDINGS: patients diagnosed and treated at acute/early infection, we demonstrate that ACT-VEC can reverse latency in HIV infected CD4 T cells to a greater extent than other major recall antigens as stimuli or even mitogens such as PMA/Iono. Furthermore, ACT-VEC activates more latent HIV-1 than clinically tested HDAC inhibitors or protein kinase C agonists. INTERPRETATION: Taken together, these results show that ACT-VEC can induce HIV reactivation from latently infected CD4 T cells collected from participants on first line combined antiretroviral therapy for at least two years after being diagnosed and treated at acute/early stage of infection. These findings could provide guidance to possible targeted cure strategies and treatments. FUNDING: NIH and CIHR.","journal":"EBioMedicine","year":2020,"id":85844,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":17,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.955,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":439058,"name":"J Pankrac","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":436297,"name":"Katja Klein","orcid":"0000-0002-6479-4597","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":438211,"name":"Paul F. McKay","orcid":"0000-0001-5195-6254","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":413791,"name":"Deborah King","orcid":"0000-0003-3199-5728","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":401453,"name":"Richard M. Gibson","orcid":"0000-0002-9569-2366","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":439059,"name":"Chanuka N. Wijewardhana","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":439060,"name":"Rahul Pawa","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":439061,"name":"Jodi Meyerowitz","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":436302,"name":"Yong Gao","orcid":"0000-0001-6352-8652","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":72323,"name":"David H. Canaday","orcid":"0000-0001-5503-7888","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":401451,"name":"Mariano Avino","orcid":"0000-0002-6796-2453","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":323986,"name":"Art F. Y. Poon","orcid":"0000-0003-3779-154X","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":438212,"name":"Caroline Foster","orcid":"0000-0001-8278-8564","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":257500,"name":"Sarah Fidler","orcid":"0000-0003-1676-7583","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":436303,"name":"Robin J. Shattock","orcid":"0000-0002-4936-1718","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":401456,"name":"Eric J. Arts","orcid":"0000-0002-4880-7968","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":436301,"name":"Jamie F. S. Mann","orcid":"0000-0001-7037-1286","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":64,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T21:58:16.217017Z","pmid":"32654992","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}