lHIV

lHIV is a term that has been used colloquially, particularly in online communities, to refer to latent HIV. Latent HIV describes the state where the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is present in the body but is dormant, meaning it is not actively replicating. This latency is a major challenge in achieving a cure for HIV, as current antiretroviral therapy (ART) can effectively suppress viral replication in actively infected cells, but it does not eliminate the virus from these latent reservoirs.

These latent reservoirs are thought to reside in a small number of cells, such as resting memory CD4+ T cells, where the virus remains integrated into the host cell's DNA. While the virus is not active, it can persist for years, and if ART is stopped, the virus can re-emerge and begin replicating again. Researchers are actively investigating strategies to "shock and kill" these latent reservoirs, aiming to either reactivate the virus from latency so it can be targeted by ART or the immune system, or to eliminate the infected cells directly. Understanding and targeting latent HIV is considered a crucial step towards developing a functional cure for HIV infection.