Apetrei Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2025

Impact of metabolic programing of T cells from the GI tract and related tissues on HIV reservoir seeding, maintenance and reactivation

Two cases of virus eradication (the “Berlin patient” and the “London patient”) demonstrated that a cure for HIV infection is feasible. Meanwhile, the burden of the HIV epidemic, which spreads unabated, as such that for every person living with HIV (PLWH) that starts antiretroviral therapy (ART), two new people become infected, fuels the global consensus that a cure for HIV is needed to curb the epidemic. Limitations towards eradication are: (i) HIV persistence in latently infected cells invisible to immune responses, (ii) inability of a damaged/exhausted immune system to eliminate HIV-infected cells, and (iii) a state of chronic inflammation (INFL) that persists despite ART. A better…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.