The HIV-1 spacer peptide P1: A novel anti-retroviral target

Funded Activity Summary

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is the virus that causes AIDS. The treatment that is in current use, called highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), has significantly delayed the onset of AIDS in HIV-1 infected patients. This therapeutic regimen requires the action of three or more drugs to generate a potency that is sufficient to suppress the virus and restrict outgrowth of resistant mutants. However, even on HAART the virus continues to replicate at a low level, and the threat of the development of resistant mutations is ever present. Consequently, additional drug targets are required to continue the successful treatment of HIV-1 infected patients. This research is focused on a large polyprotein produced by HIV called Gag. One end of Gag contains a smaller protein called P1 that is crucial for the ability of HIV to reproduce itself. Small changes to the genetic makeup of P1 (one or two amino acids) lead to a defective virus that cannot replicate. The apparent integral role of P1 in viral replication makes it an excellent target for anti-retroviral therapy. With this project we will further our understanding of P1's role in HIV replication and look at ways we target P1 for the development of effective anti-viral agents.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2004

End Date: 01-01-2006

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $384,000.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Applied immunology (incl. antibody engineering xenotransplantation and t-cell therapies)

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

HIV-1 AIDS | HIV/AIDS | Infectious disease | Medical virology | Molecular virology | Nucleocapsid | Viral assembly

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