The role of Vif in enhancing HIV replication and effecting the integrity of the replication complexes of HIV

Funded Activity Summary

HIV-AIDS is still one of the leading causes of infectious human fatality worldwide. The genome of HIV encodes six viral accessory proteins that are necessary for viral replication and infection. One of these genes, viral infectivity factor (vif), is essential for production of infectious virus. Exactly how this viral protein works within the cell is not clear at present. Current literature suggests that Vif acts in some way to enhance reverse transcription, one of the early stages of the viral life cycle. We aim to investigate the action of Vif in stabilizing early HIV reverse transcription complexes to understand how it acts to enhance HIV replication and viral infection. The early stages of HIV replication are critical for establishing infection and hence ideal targets for therapeutic intervention. This research will help understand how Vif works in a cell and affects the infectivity of HIV viral particles and may be suggestive of potential targets for development of anti-viral drugs.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2004

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $260,200.00

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)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

HIV/AIDS | anti viral drug therapy | human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS | retroviral infection | viral accessory proteins | viral infectivity factor (Vif) | viral replication complexes

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