Figure 8. Proposed model.
Residual inflammation maintains the upregulation of TLR7 and IRF-5 in memory CD4+ T cells from ART HIV-1+ individuals but not in HIVfree individuals. The activation of the TLR7/IRF-5 axis feeds into the Fas/FasL pathway, predisposing and enhancing Fas-mediated apoptosis only in memory CD4+ T cells from ART HIV-1+ individuals. Finally, we proposed that this mechanism can be blocked by adding IRF-5 inhibitory peptides, which block the predisposition to Fas-mediated cell death. Created with BioRender.com.