SIV reservoir depletion and clearance from neonatal macaques following transient CCR5 depletion.

Transient CCR5 depletion using a bispecific antibody in neonatal macaques significantly reduces both active and latent SIV reservoirs, with most remaining aviraemic for over three months.

• Why it matters: HIV persists in infected individuals despite ART, especially in latent reservoirs that are difficult to target, hindering efforts to cure the infection.
• What they did: Researchers infected neonatal rhesus macaques with SIVmac251, treated them with ART, then used a CCR5/CD3 bispecific antibody to deplete target cells, monitoring viral rebound and reservoir levels.
• The result: Most animals treated with the bispecific antibody remained aviraemic beyond three months after ART cessation, with unsuccessful detection of replication-competent virus, indicating effective reservoir depletion.