Potent Targeted Activator of Cell Kill Molecules Eliminate Cells Expressing HIV-1

The authors found bifunctional compounds with HIV-1–infected cell kill potency at clinically achievable concentrations. These targeted activator of cell kill molecules bound the reverse transcriptase–p66 domain of monomeric Gag-Pol and acted as allosteric modulators to accelerate dimerization, resulting in HIV-1+ cell death through premature intracellular viral protease activation.