The journal Nature Microbiology published a paper that the immune response appears to be the mechanism that puts HIV into a latent (“dormant”) state so that it can hide in cells and then reactivate.
Infected cells are very long lived. Dr Brian R. Cullen from Duke University School of Medicine said: “Latently infected cells can spontaneously emerge from this state and start producing HIV years after infection, requiring a lifetime of antiretroviral therapy.”
During the research, the SMC5/6 protein complex was discovered by Dr Cullen and his colleagues. It causes the provirus DNA to go “dormant” before it can enter the chromosome of the host cell. Even after the proviruses penetrate the cell, they remain inactive and cause latent infections that may turn into active infections in the future.
According to experts, the latency period occurs due to the unfortunate side effects of innate cellular immunity, which has grown to “silence foreign DNA”.
Scientists have also investigated a molecule that inhibits the action of SMC5/6 and prevents the spread of latent HIV infection. The drug has shown good results and could be a new treatment.
Earlier we wrote that experts from the University of Lausanne and the University of Montreal believe that HIV is a deceptively dormant virus. It continues to act and affect the immune system of people who are undergoing treatment.