Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) blocks different steps of HIV replication and maintains plasma viral RNA at undetectable levels. The virus can remain in long-living cells and create a reservoir where HIV can restart replicating after cART discontinuation. A persistent viral production triggers and maintains a persistent immune activation, which is a well-known feature of chronic HIV infection, and contributes either to precocious aging, or to the increased incidence of morbidity and mortality of HIV positive patients. The new frontier of the treatment of HIV infection is nowadays eradication of the virus from all host cells and tissues. For this reason, it is crucial to have a clear and precise idea of where the virus hides, and which are the cells that keep it silent. Important efforts have been made to improve the detection of viral reservoirs, and new techniques are now giving the opportunity to characterize viral reservoirs. Among these techniques, a strategic approach based upon cell sorting and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is opening new horizons and opportunities of research. This review provides an overview of the methods that combine cell sorting and ddPCR for the quantification of HIV DNA in different cell types, and for the detection of its maintenance.

中文翻译：

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探索病毒库：细胞分选与液滴数字PCR相结合的方法

联合抗逆转录病毒疗法 (cART) 可阻止 HIV 复制的不同步骤，并将血浆病毒 RNA 维持在无法检测到的水平。病毒可以保留在长寿细胞中并创建一个储存库，在 cART 停止后 HIV 可以重新开始复制​​。持续的病毒产生会触发并维持持续的免疫激活，这是慢性 HIV 感染的一个众所周知的特征，并且会导致早熟或 HIV 阳性患者发病率和死亡率的增加。如今，治疗 HIV 感染的新前沿是从所有宿主细胞和组织中根除该病毒。出于这个原因，对病毒隐藏在哪里以及哪些细胞保持沉默有一个清晰而准确的了解至关重要。为改进病毒库的检测做出了重要的努力，现在新技术为表征病毒库提供了机会。在这些技术中，基于细胞分选和液滴数字 PCR (ddPCR) 的战略方法正在开辟新的研究视野和机会。本综述概述了将细胞分选和 ddPCR 相结合的方法，用于量化不同细胞类型中的 HIV DNA 并检测其维持。