Advances in Research on HIV-1 Gene Therapy

Anti-retroviral drugs are the mainstay of current treatment for HIV-1. Although anti-retroviral therapies can temporarily inhibit viral replication, they can not eradicate latent HIV reservoirs. Therefore, continuous and life-long treatment is necessary for most patients, bringing huge economic burden as well as the risk of side effects and resistant mutation. Gene therapy can inhibit viral invasion, replication and gene expression by targeting virus gene or host co-receptors. Gene editing technique is promising to eliminate the integrated provirus HIV-1 DNA, or to make host cells acquire long-term resistance to HIV infection. This review introduces the research progress in current gene therapy with special focus on those therapies undergoing clinical research.