Described are methods and compositions for preventing and/or treating HIV infection, as well as in vitro and in vivo methods of inhibiting HIV replication, inhibiting HIV viral transcription, inhibiting the viral Tat protein, and inhibiting HIV LTR expression. The methods involve administering a Target of Egr1 (TOE1) polypeptide, fragment or deletion mutant thereof, either to a subject in need of treatment or to a cell infected with an HIV virus. Compositions may comprise the described polypeptide, or an encoding polynucleotide thereof.
