This research program has the long- term goal of developing new therapeutic approaches to eliminate or control the HIV reservoir, leading to a drug- free remission. We recently discovered that the inflammasome protein CARD8 senses the enzymatic activity of the HIV-1 protease. We demonstrated that non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) such as efavirenz (EFV) promote dimerization of Gag-Pol and cause premature intracellular activation of protease. HIV- 1 protease cleaves CARD8 driving the formation of caspase-1-dependent inflammasome and pyroptosis. All clinical HIV-1 isolates can be sensed by CARD8 despite viral diversity because it recognizes essential protease functions. The overall objective of this application is to harness CARD8 inflammasome to develop a novel approach to enhance HIV-1 reservoir elimination independently of CTLs or antibodies and trigger cell killing through non-apoptotic cell death. The research proposed in this application is innovative because, compared to the status quo, it focuses on a new mechanism independent from HIV-1 diversity and cell susceptibility to apoptosis. The proposed research is significant because it is expected to provide the groundwork for the development of a new curative strategy that is scalable, broadly applicable in different contexts of clinical research, and can be easily combined with other interventions aiming to achieve HIV-1 remission. At completion, the proposed work will inform future pre-clinical and clinical research on the development of new antiretroviral compounds that can potently eliminate HIV-1-infected cells by activating CARD8-sensing of HIV-1 protease activity.