Authors: Prasanta K. Dash, Rafal Kaminski, Ramona Bella, Hang Su, Saumi Mathews, Taha M. Ahooyi, Chen Chen, Pietro Mancuso, Rahsan Sariyer, Pasquale Ferrante, Martina Donadoni, Jake A. Robinson, Brady Sillman, Zhiyi Lin, James R. Hilaire, Mary Banoub, Monalisha Elango, Nagsen Gautam, R. Lee Mosley, Larisa Y. Poluektova, JoEllyn McMillan, Aditya N. Bade, Santhi Gorantla, Ilker K. Sariyer, Tricia H. Burdo, Won-Bin Young, Shohreh Amini, Jennifer Gordon, Jeffrey M. Jacobson, Benson Edagwa, Kamel Khalili, Howard E. Gendelman
Summary: Elimination of HIV-1 requires clearance and removal of integrated proviral DNA from infected cells and tissues. Here, sequential long-acting slow-effective release antiviral therapy (LASER ART) and CRISPR-Cas9 demonstrate viral clearance in latent infectious reservoirs in HIV-1 infected humanized mice. HIV-1 subgenomic DNA fragments, spanning the long terminal repeats and the Gag gene, are excised in vivo, resulting in elimination of integrated proviral DNA; virus is not detected in blood, lymphoid tissue, bone marrow and brain by nested and digital-droplet PCR as well as RNAscope tests. No CRISPR-Cas9 mediated off-target effects are detected. Adoptive transfer of human immunocytes from dual treated, virus-free animals to uninfected humanized mice fails to produce infectious progeny virus. In contrast, HIV-1 is readily detected following sole LASER ART or CRISPR-Cas9 treatment. These data provide proof-of-concept that permanent viral elimination is possible.
Source: Nature Communications, 2019; 10 (1)