Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 10, Issue 32, 2004

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 Ph Read More

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has markedly decreased mortality and morbidity in the developed world. HAART consists of a combination of three or more of the following classes of antiretroviral (ARV) drug: reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors and a recently approved fusion inhibitor. However, HAART cannot completely eradicate HIV from the body, results in long-term toxicity and ev Read More

Currently, 20 drugs have been approved for Human Immunodeficiency Virus type-1 (HIV-1) clinical therapy. These drugs inhibit HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, protease, or virus entry. Introduction of a combination therapy with reverse transcriptase inhibitors and protease inhibitors has resulted in a drastic decrease in HIV-1 related mortality. Although the combination therapy can suppress viral replication below detectio Read More

Protease inhibitors are effective antiviral agents which can lead to a severe decrease in HIV RNA copies in plasma of naïve patients, however even successful suppression of the virus with antiretroviral agents including protease inhibitor(s) (PI(s)) generates PI-resistant HIV-1 after long term treatment. Occasionally HIV-1 acquires cross-resistance to other PIs with which the patients have not been treated. Cross-resistance to Read More

The evolution of antiretroviral drug resistance is a major problem in the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Drug therapy failure is associated with accumulation of drug resistance mutations and results in the development of drug resistance. Drugs targeted against reverse transcriptase (RT) as well as drug-resistant RT have been shown to increase HIV-1 mutation frequencies. Furthermore, c Read More

Background. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related kidney disorders concern 30% of those patients and can lead to end-stage renal disease (ESRD; 0.6 to 1%). Therefore, administration of antiretroviral drugs in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients with nephropathy is not uncommon. Aim of the review. Since renal insufficiency is not uncommon among HIV-infected patients treated with antiretroviral drugs, Read More

Despite the significant progresses made in antiretroviral therapy, current drugs still cannot cure or prevent HIV infection. And all drugs continue to select for drug-resistant HIV strains. Consequently, new antiretroviral drugs are constantly being developed. To ensure safety, these drugs are usually designed to inhibit viral proteins. But cellular proteins are also emerging as potential targets for new antiretroviral drugs. Two dru Read More

The combination of three or more antiretroviral drugs is referred to as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and constitutes the standard of care for HIV-1 patients in industrialized nations. Although HAART is usually effective in reducing viral load and re-constituting CD4 counts, latent virus reservoirs persist, and as many as 60 years therapy [1, 2] may be required to eradicate the virus. Meanwhile, patients are likely to Read More

The DNA mismatch repair system maintains genomic stability by correcting DNA sequence errors generated during DNA replication, during genetic exchanges between chromosomes i.e., recombination, and by correcting DNA lesions caused by mutagenic agents such as cis-platinum. Post-synthesis mismatch repair improves almost 1000-fold the fidelity of DNA replication; however, the functions of mismatch repair proteins Read More

Current biological therapies for inflammatory bowel disease reflect the exponential advancement in understanding the human intestinal immune system and particularly the biology of intestinal inflammation over the past decade. The better understanding of the mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease has evolved from descriptive clinical data and genetically engineered animal models. It led to great interest in a variety of Read More