Reversal of T-cell exhaustion as a strategy to improve immune control of HIV-1.

T-cell exhaustion is a state of functional immune impairment characterized by reduced T-cell proliferation, cytokine production, cytotoxic function, and cell survival [1]. Although exhaustion generally contributes positively to immune tolerance, it also impairs tumor-specific and virus-specific T cells to allow evasion of immune surveillance [1]. Many cell surface inhibitory receptors have been implicated in T-cell exhaustion [2–7].