Roux-Cil Ferreira

Research in context HIV is a largely incurable infection despite the use of highly successful antiretroviral therapy (ART) due to the presence of a population of long-living resting CD4+ T cells, which can harbor a complete copy of the virus integrated into the host cell’s DNA. Previous work in North American populations has shown that this latent reservoir decreases very slowly for years after ART initiation, and may stabilize or even increase after seven to ten years of therapy.

Abstract Under selection by neutralizing antibodies, the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 undergoes rapid evolution within hosts, particularly in regions encoding the five variable loops (V1-V5). Indel polymorphisms are abundant in these loops, where they can facilitate immune escape by modifying the length, composition and glycosylation profile of these structures. Here, we present a comparative analysis of within-host indel rates and characteristics within the variable regions of gp120.