Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

Viral, cellular and immune aspects of non-suppressible HIV-1 viremia

We find that people with non-suppressible human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viremia despite antiretroviral therapy (ART) exhibit several distinguishing features. These include expanded CD4+ T cell clones containing HIV proviruses integrated into transcriptionally permissive regions, the presence of certain proviral defects or human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-escape mutations, enhanced survival signatures, and muted interferon and cytotoxic CD8+ T cell responses.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Example participant (LV1) with NSV.

References

  1. Halvas, E. K. et al. HIV-1 viremia not suppressible by antiretroviral therapy can originate from large T cell clones producing infectious virus. J. Clin. Investig. 130, 5847–5857 (2020). This study demonstrated that clusters of HIV-1-infected cells can lead to NSV.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Podsadecki, T. J., Vrijens, B. C., Tousset, E. P., Rode, R. A. & Hanna, G. J. Decreased adherence to antiretroviral therapy observed prior to transient human immunodeficiency virus type 1 viremia. J. Infect. Dis. 196, 1773–1778 (2007). This study showed that patients with low-level viremia do not always experience virologic failure or develop drug resistance.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Vancoillie, L. et al. Longitudinal sequencing of HIV-1 infected patients with low-level viremia for years while on ART shows no indications for genetic evolution of the virus. Virology 510, 185–193 (2017). This study revealed that in some patients with persistent low-level viremia, there may be no evidence of viral evolution, indicating the absence of active virus replication.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. White, J. A. et al. Clonally expanded HIV-1 proviruses with 5′-leader defects can give rise to nonsuppressible residual viremia. J. Clin. Investig. 133, e165245 (2023). This study showed that proviruses exhibiting 5′-leader sequence deletions can be found in patients with NSV and may lead to the production of envelope-deficient viruses.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Palmer, S. et al. Low-level viremia persists for at least 7 years in patients on suppressive antiretroviral therapy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 3879–3884 (2008). This study indicated that highly sensitive HIV-1 viral load assays can identify very low levels of HIV-1 viremia, even in PWH who appear to have successfully suppressed the virus through ART.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Mohammadi, A. et al. Viral and host mediators of non-suppressible HIV-1 viremia. Nat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02611-1 (2023).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Viral, cellular and immune aspects of non-suppressible HIV-1 viremia. Nat Med 29, 3016–3017 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02688-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02688-8

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing