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A Novel Post-transcriptional Block in Gene Expression Contributes to HIV-1 Latency In Vivo

HIV-1 latency represents a major barrier to eradication. We describe a novel post-transcriptional block in HIV-1 gene expression in latently infected cells. Multiply spliced HIV-1 RNAs encoding the critical positive regulators Tat and Rev exhibited strict nuclear localization in latently infected primary resting CD4+ T cells. Proteomic analysis identified polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB) as a HIV-1 RNA binding protein which allows cytoplasmic accumulation of HIV-1 RNAs and subsequent release of replication-competent virus by latently infected cells. Thus a post-transcriptional block in resting cells interrupts a positive feedback loop and contributes to latency. This works suggests novel approaches for reversing latency.

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Correspondence to Robert F Siliciano.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Lassen, K.G., Ramyar, K.X., Bailey, J.R. et al. A Novel Post-transcriptional Block in Gene Expression Contributes to HIV-1 Latency In Vivo. Retrovirology 2 (Suppl 1), S74 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-2-S1-S74

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-2-S1-S74

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