Fig. 1

Targeting latent HIV-1 reservoirs. HIV-1 primarily infects CD4⁺ T cells and cells of monocyte/macrophage lineage. Viral latency has been extensively studied in CD4⁺ T cells and to some extent in monocytes/macrophages, microglia , and gut-associated lymphoid tissue macrophages. These latent reservoirs represent the key issue pertaining to the complete eradication of HIV-1 from the infected individuals. According to “kick and kill” strategy, virus can be activated in these reservoirs using a range of latency reversing agents which include HDACis, HMTis, DNMTis, PKC agonists, and several other small molecules. Impact of these LRAs has been well studied in CD4⁺ T cells and to lesser extent in the cells of monocyte/macrophage lineage. Upon reactivation, latent virus undergoes robust replication resulting in production of enormous amount of virus which can induce the lysis of target cells or infected cells can be recognized by the cellular immune clearance machinery. In addition, fresh infection should be stopped by cART. The impact of LRAs in reactivating latent virus in the cells of monocyte/macrophage lineage is not well studied and needs further investigations