Opening the HIV Mystery Box

Nearly 36 million people live with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Despite incredible advances in combined antiretroviral therapy, the hopes for a definitive cure and an effective vaccine have been frustrated by the seemingly endless capacity of the virus to subvert the host defenses, to persist in a latent state, and to resist drug interventions. Recent work, however, sheds new light on the pathogenesis of infection and unveils new tools to combat the ultimate enemy—the latent virus.