This article is the fourth in a four-part series that investigates current research toward finding a cure for HIV, including advances, promising treatment strategies, and barriers to reaching a cure. Part 1 discusses general types of HIV cures. Part 2 discusses specific strategies for targeting latent HIV. Part 3 discusses gene therapy and therapeutic vaccines. Part 4 discusses barriers to obtaining a cure.

Although researchers are getting closer to finding a cure for HIV and have a number of promising avenues to pursue, there are still a…

In a recent study published by Nature Medicine, researchers have found that reservoirs of HIV are found primarily in two types of T-cells and that T cell survival and proliferation allow these reservoirs to persist.

In latently infected CD4 cells (white blood cells) the HIV virus is present, but is not actively producing more viruses. Once a virus initially penetrates a CD4 cell, it will begin replicating and subsequently disperse the duplicates to other CD4 cells, thereby spreading the infection. As HIV attacks these cells, infected individuals will generally see…