Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 13, Issue 2, 2007

AIDS is caused by the infection of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). There are two fronts in combating the worldwide epidemic of HIV/AIDS. On the one hand, the emergence of drug-resistant viruses urges the development of new anti-viral drugs that work on a mechanism of action different from those of currently available drugs; on the other hand, the control of the expanding epidemic will eventually rely on an effe Read More

The prospect of HIV-1 integrase (IN) as a therapeutically viable retroviral drug target is on the verge of realization. The observed preclinical and clinical performance of β-diketo containing and naphthyridine carboxamide compounds provides direct proof for the clinical application of IN inhibition. These validated lead compounds are useful in the design and development of second generation IN inhibitors. The results fro Read More

HIV envelope glycoprotein transmembrane subunit gp41 plays a critical role in the fusion between viral and target cell membranes. Upon gp120 binding to CD4 and a coreceptor (CCR5 or CXCR4), gp41 changes its conformation by forming N-helix trimer between N-heptad repeats (NHRs) and then six-helix bundle between the N-trimer and the Cheptad repeats (CHRs). Peptides derived from the NHR and CHR of gp41 extracellul Read More

When attacked by HIV, the immune system counteracts infection with elicitation of HIV-specific antibodies and cytotoxic T lymphocytes. In most cases however, these defenses are unable to resolve HIV infection, which progresses, if left untreated, ravaging the immune system and leading to AIDS and, eventually, to death. Nonetheless, there are additional components of the immune system, from both the innate and the ada Read More

Progress in carbohydrate microarray technology has positioned the glycochip among the expanding set of biophysical tools available to researchers. Synthetically-derived glycochips unite established microarray techniques with the versatility and structural precision of synthetic carbohydrate chemistry. A comprehensive demonstration of carbohydrate microarrays is illustrated by the chip-based study of protein/c Read More

The induction of high affinity antibodies capable of broad neutralization and protection against infection and/or disease is a major goal in the development of a vaccine for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Insights into the structure and function of the envelope (Env) protein of HIV-1 suggest that the virus is under strong selection pressure by the immune response leading to constant mutations in the Env protein inclu Read More

Human monoclonal antibodies (hmAbs) that neutralize HIV isolates from different clades at physiologically relevant concentrations (broadly cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies (bcnAbs)) are rare in infected individuals. Only small number of such antibodies have been identified and extensively characterized, but efforts to elicit them in vivo have not been successful. We have recently developed novel approaches, bas Read More

An effective vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) will likely require the elicitation of broadly neutralizing antibodies as well as cellular responses. The HIV exterior envelope glycoprotein trimers, gp120, and the transmembrane glycoprotein, gp41, mediate entry and are the sole viral targets for neutralizing antibodies. However, as subunit immunogens the envelope glycoproteins do not efficiently elicit Read More

The beneficial effect of antihypertensive treatment on the risk of major vascular events is well established. Several trials comparing older and newer drugs in the treatment of primary hypertension suggested that it is the blood pressure achieved, rather than choice of the drug that determines most of the primary outcomes. Beta-blockers have been widely used to treat hypertension and are still recommended as fir Read More

The importance of pharmacogenetics in medicine is growing with the identification of genetic variability by faster screening methods using automatic sequencers. A particularly interesting finding is that apart from environmental and psychological factors, drug response may be influenced by several biological factors as a result of genetic determinants leading to interindividual variability. Several mutations in gen Read More