Abstract
The present armamentarium of 19 antiretroviral drugs licensed for treatment of HIV-1 infection in the U.S. exemplifies preponderance of scientific evidence, which led to improved understanding of the structural and functional, viral and cellular attributes driving HIV-1 infection. The majority of approved drugs (with exception of enfuvirtide), however, focus on two steps of the viral life cycle: reverse transcription and viral maturation. Therefore, it appears there is ample opportunity for the development of a third drug class that has been extensively researched in recent years known as entry inhibitors. Currently, this class of compounds targets steps involved in virion attachment to CD4 or to an appropriate chemokine receptor on the cell surface as well as subsequent conformational rearrangements induced in the envelope glycoprotein (gp120/gp41; Env). These inhibitors preclude the fusion of the virion envelope with the host cell membrane thereby preventing the release of viral capsid into the cytosol. Antiviral agents interfering with receptor (i.e., CD4) or coreceptor (e.g., CCR5 and/or CXCR4) engagement comprise a special subset of viral entry inhibitors. While drugs targeting viral entry offer certain advantages over oth...Continue Reading
Citations
Mar 16, 2007·Expert Opinion on Emerging Drugs·Emma J Bishop, Benjamin P Howden
Jan 15, 2008·Journal of Virological Methods·Leo HeyndrickxGuido Vanham
Nov 28, 2006·Virology·Stefan PöhlmannFrank Kirchhoff
Mar 11, 2011·Virology·Jean LabrecqueRenato T Skerlj
Jun 26, 2007·Advances in Pharmacology·Ponraj PrabakaranDimiter S Dimitrov
Mar 16, 2007·Expert Opinion on Emerging Drugs·Fausto TittiBarbara Ensoli
Jun 19, 2009·Journal of Medicinal Chemistry·Rong-Jian LuConnie Sexton
Dec 7, 2007·Journal of Medicinal Chemistry·Rong-Jian LuConnie Sexton