Ljubljana/summary
From 2007.igem.org
Achievements
Prospects for the future work and real world applications
- The idea of relying on viral functions could be applied also to other HIV-specific processes (such as genome integration, reverse transcription…)
- Our system based on BioBricks has been useful for the proof the principle, but for the real application cellular delivery would be much better applied using vectors based on viral delivery
- In case of using viral vectors therapy could be delivered specifically to the relevant cells that can be infected by HIV-1 (e.g. similar as T-cell-directed retroviral delivery systems described by David Baltimore at SB2.0)
- Selection of different effectors will (and can) be made based on further experiments – apoptosis can only be used in 100% leak-proof systems, while antiviral and immune response effectors are not as sensitive
- Similar systems can be prepared for therapy of many other pathogens, particularly viruses (e.g. yellow fiver, SARS, foot and mouth disease…) which contain specific proteases and rely on defined cellular receptors
Weakness of all these therapeutics is that they are very sensitive to HIV mutations – HIV can easily mutate and thus become drug resistant. A combination of drugs is used to minimize HIV's potential to develop resistance to each individual drug in the mixture. Some of the drugs induce mutations that have negative effect on the virulence and such drugs can be used in spite of developed resistance.
We still do not have a cure for AIDS that would be insensitive to HIV mutations. Our project presents new ways of potential AIDS therapeutics. Our approaches can be considered independent of HIV mutations. We have set up a few of biological ambushes; if HIV manages to avoid them, we presume that it would not be able to infect the cell anyway.
Classes of Antiretroviral Drugs
Antiretroviral drugs are mostly inhibitors of different stages in HIV life cycle. They are targeted at different enzymes or events that are typical for HIV infection – entry of the virus into the cell, reverse transcription, polyprotein cleavage... and are divided into seven main classes (REFERENCA!):
Development
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