Acute HIV-1 infection of CD4 T cells often results in apoptotic death of infected cells, yet it is unclear what evolutionary advantage this offers to HIV-1. Given the independent observations that acute T cell HIV-1 infection results in (1) NF-kappaB activation, (2) caspase 8 dependent apoptosis, and that (3) caspase 8 directly activates NF-kappaB, we questioned whether these three events might...

The HIV-1 protease performs essential roles in viral maturation by processing specific cleavage sites in the Gag and Gag-Pol precursor polyproteins to release their mature forms. Here the analysis of a large HIV-1 protease data set (containing 552 dimer structures) are reported. These data are related to article entitled "Conformations of the HIV-1 protease: a crystal structure data set analysi...

In the present study, we newly synthesized three types of novel fullerene derivatives: pyridinium-type derivatives trans-3a and 4a-5b, piperidinium-type derivative 9, proline-type 10a-12. Among assessed compounds, 5a, 10e, 10f, 10i, 11a-d, 12 were found to inhibit both HIV reverse transcriptase protease (HIV-PR), with IC50 values in low micromolar range being observed. Regarding HIV-PR inhibiti...

There are 16 approved human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) drugs belonging to three mechanistic classes: protease inhibitors, nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors, and nonnucleoside RT inhibitors. HIV-1 resistance to these drugs is caused by mutations in the protease and RT enzymes, the molecular targets of these drugs. Drug resistance mutations arise most ofte...

Antiretroviral drugs may target four key proteins on the HIV life cycle: reverse transcriptase, protease, transmembrane envelope glycoprotein and integrase. Protease inhibitors (PI) were introduced in clinical use in 1995 immediately leading to the emergence of new drug resistant variants. Due to the high mutation rate of the HIV reverse transcriptase and the strong selective pressure imposed b...

Resistance to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease (HIV PR) inhibitors results primarily from the selection of multiple mutations in the protease region. Because many of these mutations are selected for the ability to decrease inhibitor binding in the active site, they also affect substrate binding and potentially substrate specificity. This work investigates the substrate specificity o...

The current effectiveness of HAART in the management of HIV infection is compromised by the emergence of extensively cross-resistant strains of HIV-1, requiring a significant need for new therapeutic agents. Due to its crucial role in viral maturation and therefore HIV-1 replication and infectivity, the HIV-1 protease continues to be a major development target for antiretroviral therapy. Howeve...

HIV-1 drug resistance mutations have been identified and characterized mostly in subtype B HIV-1 infection. The extent to which antiretroviral drugs select for drug resistance mutations in non-subtype B HIV-1 is not known. We obtained HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease sequences from 21 Zimbabwean patients failing antiretroviral drug therapy. We compared these sequences with 56 publi...

A phenotypic resistance test based on recombinant expression of the active HIV protease in E. coli from patient blood samples was developed. The protease is purified in a rapid one-step procedure as active enzyme and tested for inhibition by five selected synthetic inhibitors (amprenavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, and saquinavir) used presently for chemotherapy of HIV-infected patients....

HIV protease inhibitors are important pharmacological agents used in the treatment of HIV-infected patients. One of the major disadvantages of HIV protease inhibitors is that they increase several cardiovascular risk factors, including the expression of CD36 in macrophages. The expression of CD36 in macrophages promotes the accumulation of cholesterol, the development of foam cells, and ultimat...