Having determined concentrations of Senexin A and BRD6989 that have no observed toxicity and minimal impact on cell cycle progression, we next examined the role of CDK8/19 for the establishment of immediate latent infection in Jurkat T cells using the replication incompetent Red-Green-HIV-1 (RGH) virus. Here, CDK8 is linked to disease arising from reactivation of latent virus.