A Bispecific Biologic That Robustly Reverses HIV-1 and SIV Latency.

Authors

Yaoxing Huang, Manoj S Nair, Jian Yu, Sue Chong, Hsiang Hong, Hiroshi Mohri, Hiroshi Takata, Benjamin D Varco-Merth, Alejandra Marenco, Jeffrey D Lifson, Lishomwa C Ndhlovu, Anthony Bowen, Lydie Trautmann, Sandhya Vasan, Tae-Wook Chun, Afam A Okoye, David D Ho

Published in

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. Oct 07, 2026. Epub Oct 07, 2026.

Abstract

Antiretroviral therapy suppresses HIV-1 replication but cannot eliminate the latent viral reservoir persisting in memory CD4 T cells. Existing latency reversal candidates have yet to achieve robust viral reactivation at tolerable doses. We engineered T4IL15Δ, a bispecific biologic that selectively delivers IL-15 signaling to memory CD4 T cells, with minimal off-target stimulation. T4IL15Δ reactivated latent virus in 94% (48/51) of clinical samples ex vivo, 75% (15/20) of administrations in HIV-1-infected and ART-suppressed humanized mice, and 100% (6/6) of SIV-infected and ART-suppressed rhesus macaques at doses well tolerated. We also found that off-target stimulation of non-CD4 cells hindered HIV-1 reactivation ex vivo. T4IL15Δ provides a robust reactivation platform that could complement other reservoir-elimination strategies toward an HIV-1 cure.

PMID:
42926682
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Oct 2026.

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