CpG methylation controls reactivation of HIV from latency

0333948 - ÚMG 2010 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Blažková, Jana - Trejbalová, Kateřina - Gondois-Rey, F. - Halfon, P. - Philibert, P. - Guiguen, A. - Verdin, E. - Olive, D. - Van Lint, C. - Hejnar, Jiří - Hirsch, I.
CpG methylation controls reactivation of HIV from latency.
PLoS Pathogens. Roč. 5, č. 8 (2009), e1000554-e1000554. ISSN 1553-7366. E-ISSN 1553-7374
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA204/05/0939; GA ČR GP204/08/P616
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50520514
Keywords : HIV-1 * proviral latency * CpG methylation * histone modifications * HAART * epigenetics
Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology
Impact factor: 8.978, year: 2009

HIV-1 latency is the main obstacle to the eradication of the virus from infected patients. CpG methylation is known to contribute to transcriptional silencing in general, its role in HIV-1 latency, however, has not been clearly demonstrated and has never been studied in HIV-1-infected patients. We found in an in vitro model and in HIV-1-infected patients that CpG methylation of the HIV-1 promoter is important for the maintenance but not for the establishment of HIV-1 latency. That tight control of HIV-1 latency by CpG methylation could be a key barrier to purging the reservoir of latently infected cells in infected individuals. Our study shows that addition of some histone deacetylase and methyltransferase inhibitors (namely SAHA) reactivate latent HIV and could represent an important part of HAART protocols in the future.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0178805