Current antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS slows disease progression by reducing viral loads and increasing CD4 counts. Yet ART is not curative due to the persistence of CD4+ T-cell proviral reservoirs that chronically resupply active virus. Elimination of these reservoirs through the administration of synergistic combinations of latency reversing agents (LRAs), such as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and protein kinase C (PKC) modulators, provides a promising strategy to reduce if not eradicate the viral reservoir. Here, we demonstrate that largazole and its analogues are isoform-targeted histone deacetylase inhibitors and potent LRAs. Significantly, these isoform-targeted HDAC inhibitors synergize with PKC modulators, namely bryostatin-1 analogues (bryologs). Implementation of this unprecedented LRA combination induces HIV-1 reactivation to unparalleled levels and avoids global T-cell activation within resting CD4+ T-cells. View Publication

Basal forebrain cholinergic neurons (BFCNs) are believed to be one of the first cell types to be affected in all forms of AD, and their dysfunction is clinically correlated with impaired short-term memory formation and retrieval. We present an optimized in vitro protocol to generate human BFCNs from iPSCs, using cell lines from presenilin 2 (PSEN2) mutation carriers and controls. As expected, cell lines harboring the PSEN2 N141I mutation displayed an increase in the A$\beta$42/40 in iPSC-derived BFCNs. Neurons derived from PSEN2 N141I lines generated fewer maximum number of spikes in response to a square depolarizing current injection. The height of the first action potential at rheobase current injection was also significantly decreased in PSEN2 N141I BFCNs. CRISPR/Cas9 correction of the PSEN2 point mutation abolished the electrophysiological deficit, restoring both the maximal number of spikes and spike height to the levels recorded in controls. Increased A$\beta$42/40 was also normalized following CRISPR/Cas-mediated correction of the PSEN2 N141I mutation. The genome editing data confirms the robust consistency of mutation-related changes in A$\beta$42/40 ratio while also showing a PSEN2-mutation-related alteration in electrophysiology. View Publication