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Monday November 23 2009 | Biotechnology feed | All feeds
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Targeting host cellular machinery to prevent HIV-1 infection For those aged 25-44, HIV dropped from the leading cause of death in 1995 to third and fifth leading causes of death in 1996 and 1997 respectively. The age-adjusted HIV death rate of 5.9 deaths per 100,000 is the lowest rate since 1987; the first year mortality data were available for the disease. This dramatic reduction in AIDS related deaths has largely been due to the advent of anti-retroviral agents which prolong AIDS-free HIV infection as well as life-expectancy once AIDS has developed. Despite the success of HIV therapies, there is still a demand for molecules with reduced toxicity and susceptibility to drug resistance. Early HIV therapies have targeted viral proteins however approaches now include the cellular machinery as a therapeutic option. One such example is the vacuolar protein-sorting pathway that plays a role in the transport of the retroviral structural precursor (Gag) protein to its budding site on the plasma membrane of infected cells. Drug development activities centering on the identification of molecules able to interfere with this virus:host intertaction could lead to the identification of virus-specific modulators and provide opportunities to design new targeted anti-viral agents. Link to journal abstract:
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