Francesco Roberto Simonetti

The paper assesses whether HIV-1 infection confers resistance to CTL-mediated cell death and finds no intrinsic resistance, with survival differences attributed to MHC class I downregulation.

The paper identifies autologous neutralizing antibodies (aNAbs) as critical determinants of HIV-1 rebound after treatment interruption, defining quantitative limits on rebound-competent reservoirs.

This study shows antigen stimulation can reactivate HIV-1 proviruses integrated in repressive chromatin, suggesting deeper latency may contribute to viral rebound.

The paper investigates superinfection with intact HIV-1 in people living with HIV-1, showing it leads to conditional replication of defective proviruses and nonsuppressible viremia.

HIV-1 viremia not suppressed by effective ART can be caused by proviruses in CD4+ T cells reactive to autologous antigens.

The paper models SIV provirus divergence in CD4+ T cells, finding that short-lived cells harbor more diverged virus, while long-lived cells contain less diverged virus, explaining contradictory prior results on reservoir timing.

The paper shows that cognate antigen engagement in CD4+ T cells on long-term ART increases HIV-1 transcription through T cell activation, suggesting a role in viral rebound.