HIV-1 latent reservoirs are established early during primary
infection and constitute a major obstacle to virus
eradication. Understanding the complexity of the mechanisms
involved in HIV-1 latency and the numerous links
between different control levels of latency requires molecular
approaches to determine the most potent targets to
counteract repressive chromatin maintenance and gene
silencing. In a therapeutic goal, the ideal compounds
should be orally available, active but not toxic in a wide
variety of cell types in order to reach HIV-1 sanctuaries
such as the central nervous system and compatible with
the different components of HAART. Since the discovery
of latent reservoirs in the late nineties, the study of HIV-1 has followed a path strewn with obstacles, and its eradication
is still far away. However, the growing understanding
of the molecular mechanisms involved in this disease,
and of the virus' unusual talent to escape treatments and
its ability to establish and maintain a latent state in a wide
variety of cells, allows us hope for a therapeutic breakthrough.
Today, the most promising strategy to eradicate
latent reservoirs resides in combinations of several families
of compounds to force HIV-1 gene expression simultaneously
at different levels.