Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The replicative cycle of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can be interrupted at several stages. Until recently only the viral reverse transcriptase and protease were the only enzymes targeted by antiretroviral agents. However, the first HIV entry inhibitor (T-20, Enfuvirtide, Fuseon) to be used in humans has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The HIV entry process is considered as an attractive target for chemotherapeutic intervention, as blocking HIV entry into its target cell leads to suppression of viral infectivity, replication and the cytotoxicity induced by virus-cell contacts. HIV-1 entry into target cells is a multistep process: virus attachment is initiated by the binding of trimeric envelope glycoprotein gp120 complexes on the virions to glycosylated T-cell surface receptor (CD4) and HIV GPCR coreceptors (CCR5 or CXCR4) leading to envelope glycoprotein gp41-dependent fusion-pore formation and membrane fusion. A number of compounds are being developed to specifically target each of these steps leading to virus entry and some compounds have reached early clinical development. Conversely, agents such as the CCR5 antagonist Tak-779 and the CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100 are not longer being thought as relevant anti-HIV agents but have given way to new analogues with improved properties. This review summarizes the current state of HIV entry inhibitors, their mechanisms of action and their therapeutic value against HIV infection and AIDS.
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PMID:Virus entry as a target for anti-HIV intervention. 1287 Nov 11

Although plasma human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA concentration is a major determinant of the rate of HIV-1 disease progression, the reasons for variability in plasma virus loads among infected individuals are not fully understood. We conducted investigations with 15 HIV-1-infected individuals who were not receiving antiretroviral therapy to evaluate the hypothesis that HIV-1 replication rate in vitro is a significant determinant of plasma virus load. Virus could not be isolated from one subject. Two subjects were excluded because they had features previously associated with distinct plasma virus loads and altered rates of disease progression; one harbored a syncytium-inducing virus and the second was heterozygous for a 32-bp deletion from the CCR5 gene. HIV-1 replication rates were determined by culturing autologous virus isolates in phytohemagglutinin-treated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and determining the rate of p24 antigen production during the logarithmic phase of viral replication. The contribution of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease (PR) alleles to replication capacity was assessed using recombinant viruses in a single-cycle infection assay. HIV-1 replication rates ranged from 0.15 to 0.76 log(10) pg/ml/day and were reproducible within the same donor PBMC (coefficient of variation +/- 4%). RT-PR replication capacity ranged from 14 to 95% of that of control virus and was linearly related to replication rate (r(2) = 0.53; P = 0.007). Plasma HIV-1 RNA concentration was linearly related to replication rate (r(2) = 0.71; P < 0.001) and RT-PR replication capacity (r(2) = 0.44; P = 0.019). These data suggest that different RT-PR alleles are important determinants of HIV-1 replication rates and that HIV-1 replication rate explains much of the variability in plasma virus load in chronic HIV-1 infection.
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PMID:Relationship between in vitro human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication rate and virus load in plasma. 1458 47

CCR5, a beta-chemokine receptor, plays an important role in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of human immune cells, as it is a primary coreceptor for HIV entry into macrophages. We have applied a newly developed real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) assay for the quantification of CCR5 mRNA in human blood immune cells. The CCR5 real-time RT-PCR assay has a sensitivity of 100 mRNA copies, with a dynamic range of detection between 10(2) and 10(6) copies of the CCR5 mRNA transcripts per reaction. The assay is highly reproducible, with an intra-assay coefficient of variation of the threshold cycle of less than 2.07%. When used for quantification of CCR5 mRNA in human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL), the assay has precision and reproducibility. MDM expressed higher levels of CCR5 mRNA than did PBL. Thus, this assay has the potential and a wide application for the investigation of the role of CCR5 in inflammatory diseases and viral infections, including HIV disease.
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PMID:Quantification of CCR5 mRNA in human lymphocytes and macrophages by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR assay. 1460 77

Only some twenty years has passed since the first discovery of severe immunodeficiency among previously healthy homosexual men through the discovery of the causing virus and till the status today where the knowledge on the HIV virus and the pathogenic mechanisms induced by the virus are extensive, though still incomplete. Furthermore, steadily better treatments have been introduced at a paste that is probably without precedents. These processes have been fuelled by various molecular biological methods. The abilities to quantify viremia and to sequence virus and hence describe the evolution of the virus represent valuable tools for understanding the pathogenic processes. The current thesis describes some of the findings obtained. While it was initially thought that the virological profile mimicked the clinical with an acute infection followed for years by clinical latency and only after on average ten years signs of severe immunodeficiency, this understanding has been revised. There is no virological latency. The viral replication is on going throughout the infection. However, the virological profile does resemble the clinical. Viremia is high shortly after infection; hereafter declines, and stabilises around what has been termed the viral set point. This level of viremia is predictive of the clinical course of the infection. We have shown that the viremic levels, measured both as HIV RNA load and proviral DNA load, early in infection carry significant information about the course of the infection. It is; however, not only early viral loads that carry prognostic information, also viral load during late-stage infection is clinically informative. Viral load measurements have evolved as the major tool for monitoring the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy. HIV RNA has been shown to be a good surrogate marker for the clinical efficacy of antiretroviral treatment. How to use the measurements most optimally has however not been fully delineated. Various methods for describing virological response might yield different results, and it is recommended that the pros and cons of the various methods be investigated. In a cohort of patients who had obtained good virological suppression on antiretroviral therapy followed prospectively for two years we found that only few patients experienced high-grade viremia. Furthermore, baseline HIV DNA differed between the patients with various longitudinal HIV RNA profiles. The patients with the most pronounced HIV RNA suppression had lowest proviral load at baseline, with a clear gradient across the groups. The interplay between proviral load and treatment response deserves further investigations. Resistance can develop against all the available antiretrovirals. The high turnover rate of HIV along with the error-prone reverse transcriptase leads to the possibility of steady accumulation of resistance mutations if the viremic suppression is incomplete. While the interplay between viremia and resistance development is clear-cut for some antiretrovirals i.e. Lamivudine, the pattern is more complex for i.e. Zidovudine. With the availability of assays for resistances testing the knowledge on this issue has been ever evolving. How to use resistance testing in the clinical monitoring of patients remains to be clarified. Resistance testing can aid in the process of choosing salvage therapy for patients experiencing virological failure. Whether resistance testing will be of clinical benefit in other situations remains to be determined. Investigation of the viral sequences and evolution herein has not only been used for resistance analyses, but also for tracing the spread of the infection. HIV-1 exists in many subtypes, with various geographic distributions. Hence subtype analyses have been used to investigate the introduction and spread of the HIV infection into many countries. Phylogenetic analyses have also been used to investigate nosocomial transmission events. We used analyses of env and gag sequences to trace a case of nosocomial infection at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Rigshospitalet, Denmark. The study underlines the importance of steady awareness of the infection control precautions and possible breaks herein. The usefulness of this type of analyses was confirmed. In the early years of the AIDS epidemic various replicative patterns were described. Virus obtained from patients with late-stage infection often had virus that could induce syncytium formation (SI) when cultured, while virus obtained from patients in the early stages of infection did not have this ability. A correlation between the SI ability and the ability to yield high virus titres rapidly as well as the ability to establish infection in certain cell lines was found. Patients infected with SI virus experience more rapid clinical deterioration. We found that patients harbouring SI virus have HIV RNA loads no different from patients harbouring NSI virus. This is in line with the findings of other groups. Though patients harbouring SI virus had a more rapid development of resistance when treated with nucleoside reserve transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI's) monotherapy, this was not the case when treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). HAART is today considered the treatment modality of choice; both for established HIV-infection and in cases where post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is given in order to prevent establishment of infection after exposure. In a case of transfusion of HIV-contaminated though HIV antibody negative blood the recipient was treated with HAART. As the risk of infection is close to 100% under these circumstances the fact that the recipient remained uninfected is probably attributable to the prompt initiation and thorough maintenance of PEP. PEP is recommended to health care workers after percutaneous HIV exposure as well as after sexual exposure. Even with NRTI monotherapy PEP has been shown to be efficacious. While the explanation for the dichotomy (SI vs. NSI) was for many years unresolved, it is now known that this is due to the requirements of the virus for different co-receptors for cell entry. SI virus uses mainly CXCR4 while NSI virus uses CCR5. Being heterozygous for a 32 basepair deletion in the gene encoding CCR5 leads to slower disease progression. We have shown that heterozygotes have lower HIV RNA levels in the early years of the infection, possibly explaining the clinical advantage of having the deletion. HIV replicates in activated cells, and there is an intriguing interplay between HIV replication and immune activation. HIV-infected patients have elevated levels of immunoglobulins. HIV induces polygonal immunoglobulin production. We found that patients experiencing good virological suppression of HAART had lower IgA levels than patients with less complete viral suppression. Whether IgA can be used as a marker for imminent viral break-through remains to be determined. The full understanding of the interplay between immune activation and HIV replication awaits further studies. The finding of increased viremia in conjunction with acute bacterial or viral infection led to concerns about the safety of vaccinating HIV-infected patients against influenza and pneumococcal infection. We found no difference in HIV RNA levels measured before and median 42 days after anti-pneumococcal vaccination. This is in line with many other studies showing either no or only transient increases in viremia. In conclusion, the knowledge on HIV virology has expanded tremendously. This has led to significant improvements in treatments in the Western World leading to declines in HIV morbidity and mortality. The ability to quantify viral load and to perform sequence analyses represent valuable tools both for understanding the pathogenic actions of the virus and for the clinical monitoring of HIV-infected patients. The optimal usage of these tools in the clinical setting, however, still remains to be defined. The progresses obtained have unfortunately been restricted to the Western World and the calamities of HIV is spreading and worsening in the Developing World. The progress in the development of a vaccine has been disappointing and it is urgently necessary that the progresses obtained within the fields of prevention and treatment are translated into useful strategies in the parts of the world mostly affected by the HIV pandemic.
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PMID:Molecular biological assessment methods and understanding the course of the HIV infection. 1462 50

CXCR4, a coreceptor for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) X4 virus, plays an important role in virus entry into the target cells. Antiviral agents that bind to CXCR4 are expected to inhibit HIV-1 entry. A cell-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed utilizing an anti-CXCR4 monoclonal antibody, 12G5, and cells expressing CD4 and CXCR4, U373-MAGI-CXCR4(CEM) cells. Using this assay, we demonstrated that 12G5 specifically binds to the CXCR4-expressing cells, but not to CCR5-expressing cells and cells without CXCR4 and CCR5, consistent with the results obtained by using flow cytometry. The well-characterized CXCR4 antagonists, T22, T14012 (a downsized analog of T-22), and AMD3100, effectively inhibited 12G5 binding to CXCR4-expressing cells, while HIV-1 entry inhibitors targeting CD4 and gp41 as well as HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors did not block the binding of 12G5 to U373-MAGI-CXCR4(CEM) cells. The prepared plates containing the fixed cells could be stored at -80 degrees C for at least 5 months without affecting the cell reactivity with 12G5, which enhances the convenience of this method. This suggests that the cell-based ELISA is specific, sensitive, convenient, rapid, and economic. With a robotic sample processing system, this assay can be used for high-throughput screening of HIV-1 entry inhibitors targeted to the HIV-1 coreceptor CXCR4.
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PMID:Development of a cell-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for high-throughput screening of HIV type 1 entry inhibitors targeting the coreceptor CXCR4. 1467 1

The chemokine receptors CXCR4 and CCR5 are used as the main co-receptors by the T-cell-tropic (CXCR4-dependent, X4) and macrophage-tropic (CCR5-dependent, R5) HIV-1 strains, respectively, for entering their target cells. The natural ligands for CXCR4, the CXC-chemokine SDF-1 and CCR5, the CC-chemokines RANTES, MIP-1alpha and MIP-1beta are described to inhibit viral entry. In this review we focus on chemokine receptor/HIV co-receptor inhibitors. Modified chemokines such as Met-RANTES and AOP-RANTES showed antiviral activity against R5 viruses. Several low-molecular weight CCR5 antagonists have been described (such as TAK-779 and SCH-C) with potent antiviral activity. The latter compound is also orally available and is able to decrease R5 viral load levels in HIV-infected subjects. Several peptidic compounds, such as T22 (an 18-mer), T134 (a 14-mer), ALX40-4C (a 9-mer) and CGP 64222 (also a 9-mer) have anti-HIV activity and have been identified as CXCR4 antagonists. Also, the HIV-1 Tat protein has been described as a "natural" CXCR4 antagonist with anti-HIV-1 activity. The most potent and specific CXCR4 antagonists are the bicyclam derivatives, which also potently inhibit X4 HIV replication. AMD3100 has proved to be a highly specific CXCR4 antagonist, which consistently blocks X4 viral replication in any target cell-type evaluated so far. AMD3100 was selected as the clinical drug candidate, which, after initial phase I (safety) studies, had proceeded to phase II (efficacy) trials. The compound dose-dependently inhibited X4 viruses after 10 days of continuous infusion of the drug. Recently, the orally bioavailable CXCR4 antagonist, AMD070, is presented as a candidate HIV drug. We believe that chemokine receptor antagonists will become important new antiviral drugs to combat AIDS. Both (CXCR4 and CCR5) chemokine receptor inhibitors will be needed in combination to inhibit viral replication and even in combinations of antiviral drugs that also target other aspects of the HIV replication cycle, such as reverse transcriptase and protease, to obtain optimum therapeutic effects.
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PMID:HIV co-receptors as targets for antiviral therapy. 1513 47

The development of novel drugs active against multi-drug resistant (MDR) HIV-1 strains is urgently required. HIV protease inhibitors and reverse transcriptase inhibitors constitute two categories of important drugs, which have greatly improved the clinical treatment of HIV-infected patients by their cocktail use designated as highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). By combinatorial chemistry involving substructure units contained in known HIV protease inhibitors, we found effective protease inhibitors, TYA5 and TYB5, which showed potent anti-HIV activity even against MDR strains. Selection of drug-resistant viruses is also decreased when these new agents are tested in vitro. Subsequently, introduction of an (E)-alkene dipeptide isostere into TYB5 led to the development of a pure non-peptide protease inhibitor, TYB1. We have also studied the development of effective inhibitors for blocking HIV-entry into host cells based on recent discovery of an HIV entry mechanism involving the viral usage of chemokine receptors as coreceptors, CXCR4 and CCR5. We developed highly selective CXCR4 antagonists, T22 and T140 (18-mer and 14-mer peptides, respectively), which strongly suppress T-cell line-tropic HIV-1 (X4-HIV-1) entry through their specific binding to CXCR4. Recently, molecular-size reduction of T140 yielded low molecular weight CXCR4 antagonists, which might be more useful leads to drug-like structures. In this review, we discuss the development of two types of anti-HIV agents, protease inhibitors and CXCR4 antagonists, which would improve clinical AIDS chemotherapy.
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PMID:Two orthogonal approaches to overcome multi-drug resistant HIV-1s: development of protease inhibitors and entry inhibitors based on CXCR4 antagonists. 1518 Apr 58

In recent years, significant progress has been made towards the chemotherapy (and prophylaxis) of HIV infections. This progress is situated at three different levels. (i) New anti-HIV drugs have been approved for clinical use and have entered the market: the virus entry inhibitor enfuvirtide (Fuzeon), the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) emtricitabine (Emtriva), the nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NtRTI) tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Viread trade mark ) and the HIV protease inhibitor (PI) atazanavir (Reyataz trade mark ). (ii) Other compounds have proceeded through preclinical and/or clinical development: CXCR4 antagonists (i.e. AMD070), CCR5 antagonists (i.e. SCH-C), NRTIs (such as amdoxovir), NNRTIs (such as etravirine), integrase inhibitors (such as S-1360) and PIs (such as tipranavir). (iii) Yet other compounds, acting by novel mechanisms, have recently been identified as anti-HIV agents that seem worthy of further (pre)clinical development: cell receptor CD4 down-modulators (i.e. cyclotriazadisulfonamides), viral envelope gp120-binding agents such as plant lectins and glycopeptide antibiotics, HIV integrase inhibitors such as the pyranodipyrimidine V-165, and two new classes of compounds (i.e. N-aminoimidazoles and pyridine oxide derivatives) which seem to interfere with a post-integration, transcription transactivation event. Taken together, it is obvious that the approaches for the treatment of HIV infections in recent years have become both more diverse and more efficient.
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PMID:HIV-chemotherapy and -prophylaxis: new drugs, leads and approaches. 1518 46

Recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) expressing SIV or SHIV Gag-Pol and Env, alone or in conjunction with a related DNA vaccine, effectively controls immunodeficiency virus infections in nonhuman primates. Here we describe the construction, characterization, and immunogenicity of MVA/HIV 48, a candidate HIV-1 clade B Gag-Pol-Env vaccine. A novel transfer vector was designed to allow the incorporation of HIV genes regulated by vaccinia virus promoters together with a reporter gene into a single site in the MVA genome and to automatically delete the reporter after the initial isolation of the recombinant MVA. MVA/HIV 48 contains chimeric HIV-1 HXB-2/BH10 gag-pol sequences, a deletion of integrase, inactivating point mutations in reverse transcriptase, and HIV-1 ADA env sequences with a truncation of most of the cytoplasmic domain to enhance expression on the plasma membrane. Cells infected with MVA/HIV 48 expressed HIV proteins, which were processed to the expected size. The Env was inserted into the plasma membrane and was functional in a CCR5 coreceptor-dependent cell fusion assay. Moreover, virus-like particles were released into the medium and budding particles containing Env were visualized by immunoelectron microscopy. Rodents that were immunized with MVA/HIV 48 produced antibodies, which neutralized a heterologous HIV-MN strain, and Gag-specific CD8 T cells. In the accompanying paper, we show that MVA/HIV 48 provided efficient boosting of an HIV DNA vaccine.
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PMID:Multiprotein HIV type 1 clade B DNA and MVA vaccines: construction, expression, and immunogenicity in rodents of the MVA component. 1524 42

Ten lignans (2-11) and a series of azalignans including 1-aryl-pyrronaphthalenes 20-24 and 3-N-alkylaminomethyl-1-arylnaphthalenes 25-28, structurally related to two HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitors, retrojusticidin B and phyllamyricin A, were prepared from phyllanthin (1) for evaluation of anti-HIV activities. Anti-HIV activity of these compounds on a R5 pseudotype virus, ConB/pNL43E-L+, in the U87-CD4-CCR5 cells has been measured. Compounds 5, 22, 23, and 28 showed good anti-HIV activity with IC(50) value of 0.25, 1.07, 0.01, 0.32 microg/mL, respectively.
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PMID:Preparation and anti-HIV activities of retrojusticidin B analogs and azalignans. 1524 82


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