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Title: Residual Viremia in Treated HIV+ Individuals

Journal Article · · PLoS Computational Biology (Online)
 [1];  [2]
  1. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) effectively controls HIV infection, suppressing HIV viral loads. However, some residual virus remains, below the level of detection, in HIV-infected patients on ART. Furthermore, the source of this viremia is an area of debate: does it derive primarily from activation of infected cells in the latent reservoir, or from ongoing viral replication? Our observations seem to be contradictory: there is evidence of short term evolution, implying that there must be ongoing viral replication, and viral strains should thus evolve. The phylogenetic analyses, and rare emergent drug resistance, suggest no long-term viral evolution, implying that virus derived from activated latent cells must dominate. We use simple deterministic and stochastic models to gain insight into residual viremia dynamics in HIV-infected patients. Our modeling relies on two underlying assumptions for patients on suppressive ART: that latent cell activation drives viral dynamics and that the reproductive ratio of treated infection is less than 1. Nonetheless, the contribution of viral replication to residual viremia in patients on ART may be non-negligible. However, even if the portion of viremia attributable to viral replication is significant, our model predicts (1) that latent reservoir re-seeding remains negligible, and (2) some short-term viral evolution is permitted, but long-term evolution can still be limited: stochastic analysis of our model shows that de novo emergence of drug resistance is rare. Thus, our simple models reconcile the seemingly contradictory observations on residual viremia and, with relatively few parameters, recapitulates HIV viral dynamics observed in patients on suppressive therapy.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1236042
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-27439
Journal Information:
PLoS Computational Biology (Online), Vol. 12, Issue 1; ISSN 1553-7358
Publisher:
Public Library of ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 45 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Anti-proliferative therapy for HIV cure: a compound interest approach journal June 2017
Probabilistic control of HIV latency and transactivation by the Tat gene circuit journal November 2018
Modelling the evolution of HIV ‐1 virulence in response to imperfect therapy and prophylaxis journal February 2017
Determinants of the efficacy of HIV latency-reversing agents and implications for drug and treatment design journal October 2018
Large Variations in HIV-1 Viral Load Explained by Shifting-Mosaic Metapopulation Dynamics journal October 2016
Predictions of time to HIV viral rebound following ART suspension that incorporate personal biomarkers journal July 2019
CD8+ lymphocyte control of SIV infection during antiretroviral therapy journal October 2018
Determinants of the efficacy of HIV latency-reversing agents and implications for drug and treatment design text January 2018
Towards multiscale modeling of the CD8 + T cell response to viral infections journal February 2019
Persistent HIV-1 replication during antiretroviral therapy journal January 2016
Mathematical modeling to reveal breakthrough mechanisms in the HIV Antibody Mediated Prevention (AMP) trials journal February 2020
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