Using cutting-edge molecular techniques, researchers identified more than 250 human proteins involved in HIV replication, raising the prospect of new therapeutic targets.
Most antiretroviral agents target HIV proteins rather than cellular factors. Understanding which host factors HIV requires for replication might lead to new targets for drug development. Now, researchers in Boston have used a powerful new technique to determine the cellular proteins necessary for HIV reproduction.
The researchers used pools of small interfering RNAs to disrupt the cellular expression of >21,000 human genes, one at a time, and measured the effect on HIV replication. They identified 273 cellular proteins on which HIV depends to complete its life cycle. Only 36 of these so-called HIV dependency factors (HDFs) had been found previously. Many HDFs were expressed at higher levels in immune cells — which are targeted by HIV — than …
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DisclosuresGrant/Research SupportNIH
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; ID Images (idimages.org); Infectious Diseases Society of America COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines; International Antiviral Society–USA (Guidelines Committee)
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesHIV Medicine Association; Infectious Diseases Society of America (Board of Directors)
DisclosuresGrant/Research SupportNIH
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; ID Images (idimages.org); Infectious Diseases Society of America COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines; International Antiviral Society–USA (Guidelines Committee)
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesHIV Medicine Association; Infectious Diseases Society of America (Board of Directors)