Therapy for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

Much is known about the replication of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) from the time of cell attachment to the release of mature virions (Figure 1), and drugs that interfere with many of the steps in HIV replication have been developed and tested in vitro. These drugs include inhibitors of reverse transcriptase, protease, and a regulatory protein, Tat (Table 1). Inhibitors of reverse transcriptase can prevent the spread of infectious virus to new cells but do not interfere with the replication of HIV genomes that are integrated into the host genome. Two of the most promising agents target…