The ENL-USP7 Complex Regulates HIV Latency Through BRD4 Stabilization

Abstract

HIV-1 persists in CD4 T cells and brain microglia through host factors that enforce viral latency, yet the mechanisms that stabilize key transcriptional regulators remain incompletely understood. Here, we identify the YEATS domain-containing protein ENL and its associated deubiquitinase USP7 as a host complex that maintains HIV-1 latency. USP7 stabilizes BRD4 by deubiquitination, suppressing HIV transcription and sustaining viral quiescence. Disruption of the ENL-USP7 complex using selective PROTACs reactivates latent HIV in cell line models, as well as in resting CD4 T cells and microglia isolated from people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy. These findings uncover a critical ENL-USP7-BRD4 axis that enforces HIV-1 latency and highlight USP7 as a potential target for latency-reversing strategies. HighlightsO_LIENL, a YEATS domain-containing crotonylation reader, acts as a suppressor rather than an activator of HIV-1 transcription. C_LIO_LIENL recruits USP7 to stabilize BRD4 and enforce viral latency. C_LIO_LIDisruption of the ENL-USP7-BRD4 axis reactivates latent HIV in T cells and microglia. C_LIO_LITargeting USP7 or ENL reveals a therapeutic vulnerability in HIV reservoirs. C_LI