New ex vivo approaches distinguish effective and ineffective single agents for reversing HIV-1 latency in vivo

Latency-reversing agents (LRAs) have been tested in HIV-1–infected individuals in the hopes of activating the latent viral reservoir and contributing to efforts to eradicate the virus. Robert F. Siliciano and his colleagues now report that most individual LRAs fail to reactivate latent virus in cells from infected individuals and that in vitro models of latency do not adequately reflect the ability of these agents to induce latent virus ex vivo.