Editorial [Hot Topic: Anti-HIV Drug Design and Therapy (Executive Editor: Ted M. Ross)]

Approximately 100 million individuals worldwide have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and developed the disease known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The pace of research in this field has produced challenges for scientists and clinicians to keep informed of the vast array of new information, particularly the area of anti-HIV drug design and therapy. In this issue of Current Pharmaceutical Design, Pereira and Paridaen summarize the various approaches for anti-HIV drug development [1]. Imamichi [2] and Yusa and Harada [3] describe the mechanisms for resistance of HIV-1 to reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors. Whereas, Chen et al. describe the connection between drug resistance and viral fitness [4]. Izzedine et al. [5] review the effect of antiretroviral drugs on the renal system and Provencher et al. [6] describe the effects that these drugs have on cellular proteins and the involvement in HIV resistance. Finally, Kelly et al. [7] describe a potential new class of HIV drugs, known as Virostatics.