evidence: Vaccination with a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine revealed HIV hiding in immune cells in blood from people with HIV, according to lab research led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings, published Aug. 19 in Nature Communications, identify new tools for evaluating treatment approaches in development aimed at curing HIV. [...] Next, the researchers analyzed blood from individuals with HIV before COVID-19 vaccination and after each of two shots. In particular, they found that killer CD8+ T cells that target cells marked by an early gene product of HIV called Nef had released the protein granzyme B, a robust marker of recent attempts by the CD8+ T cells to kill HIV. This response, observed after the first shot, was correlated with a subsequent reduction in HIV RNA – suggesting some elimination of infected cells by the boosted CD8+ T cells.