‘Dormant’ HIV produces RNA and proteins during anti-retroviral therapy

HIV anti-retroviral therapy is considered a treatment and not a cure because patients usually carry a reservoir of HIV-infected cells that can re-emerge if treatment stops. These reservoirs have long been thought to be dormant, but two independent groups of researchers report in the journal Cell Host & Microbe that a subset of these cells spontaneously produce HIV RNA and proteins that may impact patients’ HIV-specific immune responses.