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How do antiretroviral drugs control HIV infection?
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AIDS
Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 virions (green) budding from a cultured lymphocyte. Multiple round bumps on the cell surface represent sites of virion assembly and budding.
Antiretroviral drugs control HIV infection by targeting different stages of the virus's life cycle to suppress its replication. Because HIV replicates rapidly and can easily mutate, combination treatment is essential to prevent the emergence of drug-resistant strains.123
Key classes of these medications include:
- Reverse Transcriptase (RT) Inhibitors: These drugs block reverse transcriptase, an enzyme HIV uses to convert its RNA into DNA. By mimicking natural nucleosides or binding directly to the enzyme, they terminate DNA synthesis and prevent the virus from integrating into host cell DNA.13
- Protease Inhibitors: These block the viral enzyme protease, which is necessary for the synthesis of new viral particles, thereby preventing the spread of the virus to uninfected cells.12
- Fusion and Entry Inhibitors: These drugs block HIV from entering human cells by targeting molecules on the immune cell surface or preventing viral fusion.1
- Integrase Inhibitors: These block the virus's ability to replicate by preventing the integration of viral genetic material into the host cell.1
By suppressing the viral load, these therapies allow the immune system to reconstitute itself.2