Hopes for HIV eradication have been stymied by the current crop of antiretroviral drugs’ inability to get at the reservoir of inactive HIV-infected CD4 cells that hide in the body. Now, Robert Siliciano, MD, PhD, from Johns Hopkins University says not only that it’s possible to get at these cells, but that his lab is already on track to identifying drugs that can wake up these cells. The discovery represents a significant step on the path to ultimately curing HIV.

Not everyone has given up hope about developing a cure for HIV, and one researcher in particular has just moved us one step closer. Working with scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, Robert Siliciano, MD, PhD, has accomplished something that others believed impossible: a way to develop a drug that can get at the stubborn reservoir of HIV that currently goes unscathed by antiretroviral (ARV) therapy.

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