Unlike in quiescent resting memory CD4+ T-cells, HIV potently replicates in activated CD4+ T-cells. In latently infected resting memory CD4+ T-cells, transcription factors such as the nuclear factor kappaB (NF-κB), nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT), and activator protein 1 (AP-1) are all sequestered in the cytoplasm but soon translocate into the nucleus following T-cell stimulation. Multiple signaling pathways, including T-cell receptor (TCR) activation [
24,
25,
26,
27] or cytokine stimulation [
20,
28] that are capable of inducing NF-κB or NFAT, are able to potently induce HIV proviral transcription.
The nuclear induction of NF-κB and its binding to the HIV LTR promoter trigger HIV proviral transcription by recruiting histone acetyltransferases (HATs) to the HIV promoter [
29,
30,
31,
32]. Histone acetylation at the HIV promoter subsequently results in the recruitment of the chromatin remodeling complex BAF, which leads to transcriptional activation by displacing Nuc-1, positioned immediately downstream of the transcription start site [
7,
8,
9,
33,
34,
35]. Conceivably, the mode of HIV transcription initiation mediated by NF-κB is also mediated by NFAT transcription factors. Paradoxically, using 2D10 Jurkat T-cell clones we [
36] most recently demonstrated that while NF-κB is able to activate HIV latency, NFAT inhibits HIV LTR transcription through competitive binding to the overlapping NF-κB binding sites within the HIV LTR following T-cell receptor activation.
There is a low level of viral Tat protein in latently infected quiescent resting memory CD4+ T-cells due to restricted ongoing HIV transcription in these cells. However, cellular activation results in nuclear translocation of NF-κB, which initiates HIV transcription leading to an increase in viral Tat protein levels. Viral Tat protein functions by unusually binding to the transcription response (TAR) element found in nascent mRNA. TAR is a stem–loop RNA structure located at the 5′ end of all viral transcripts. Viral Tat binds to TAR and recruits positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb), which is a cellular transcription elongation factor [
37]. The cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) subunit of P-TEFb then phosphorylates the C-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNAP II, leading to the enhancement of HIV transcription elongation [
37,
38]. Using the clone 2D10 model system of HIV latency, Pearson et al. [
20] demonstrated that, indeed, reactivation of HIV latency is strictly dependent on NF-κB and viral Tat protein in Jurkat T-cells. Subsequently, Tyagi et al. [
17] demonstrated that HIV latency, in primary T cells, is restricted to both initiation and elongation phases. Therefore, in order to reactivate latent HIV provirus in primary T cells, there is a need to activate both NF-κb and P-TEFb. Hence, restricted nuclear levels of P-TEFb in latently infected primary CD4+ T-cells strongly prohibited HIV transcription even when NF-κB was induced by TNF-α stimulation. Tyagi et al. found that TCR activation, which proficiently induces transcription factors including NF-κB through the protein kinase C pathway and P-TEFb, mobilized through an ERK-dependent pathway [
26], was able to efficiently reactivate latent HIV in primary CD4+ T -cells [
17]. Recently, Hokello et al. [
36] demonstrated that AP-1 synergizes with NF-κB to modulate HIV transcriptional elongation following TCR activation. Initially, Tyagi et al. [
39] demonstrated a functional interaction between DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) and RNAP II during HIV transcription, such that the knockdown of endogenous DNA-PK using small hairpin RNAs resulted in a significant reduction in HIV transcription. Recently, the Tyagi lab [
40] specifically showed that DNA-PK, besides catalyzing RNAP II CTD phosphorylation, also enhances the recruitment of P-TEFb to the HIV LTR. Thus, DNA-PK concomitantly increases the phosphorylation of the CTD of RNAP II at Serine 5 and Serine 2, thereby stimulating both HIV transcriptional initiation and elongation. The Tyagi lab also demonstrated that DNA-PK promotes the release of paused RNAP II through the phosphorylation of tripartite motif-containing 28 (TRIM28) at the HIV LTR [
40]. These results demonstrate that DNA-PK participates at multiple levels in order to facilitate HIV transcription.