OBJECTIVES To investigate the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 and to screen for the emergence of intersubtype recombinants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. DESIGN A molecular epidemiology study was conducted among HIV-1 seropositive patients attending the University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) from July 2003 to June 2004. METHODS Protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) gene sequences were d...

BACKGROUND Despite the increasing use of antiretroviral treatment (ART) recent data on frequency and pattern of drug resistance mutations in Ethiopia is not available. Furthermore with increasing mobility of people HIV-1 subtypes other than the predominant subtype C may likely be introduced from the neighbouring countries. This study was aimed to determine the molecular characterization and pre...

The success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is challenged by the emergence of resistance-associated mutations in human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1). In this study, resistance associated mutations in the reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease (PR) genes in antiretroviral therapy (ART) naïve and treated HIV-1 infected pediatric patients from North India were evaluated. Genoty...

HIV-1 protease (PR) is a 99 amino acid protein responsible for proteolytic processing of the viral polyprotein - an essential step in the HIV-1 life cycle. Drug resistance mutations in PR that are selected during antiretroviral therapy lead to reduced efficacy of protease inhibitors (PI) including darunavir (DRV). To identify the structural mechanisms associated with the DRV resistance mutation...

BACKGROUND/AIMS To assess the durability of protective hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) titers in HIV-infected patients who responded to double-dose hepatitis B virus (HBV) rescue vaccination. METHODS A retrospective chart review was performed for HIV-infected patients who received the double-dose HBV rescue vaccination at 0-, 1-, and 2-month intervals after they had failed conventiona...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have highlighted a range of individual determinants associated with HIV testing but few have assessed the role of contextual factors. The objective of this paper is to examine the influence of both individual and community-level determinants of HIV testing uptake in Burkina Faso. METHODS Using nationally representative cross-sectional data from the 2010 Demographic...

Address correspondence to: Farah A. Ramírez-Marrero, PhD, MSc, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus,Department of Physical Education and Recreation, PO Box 23311, San Juan, PR 00931-3311. Email: [email protected] Objective: Hispanics in Puerto Rico (PR) have a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome (met-syn), partially explained by low physical activity (PA) and possibly low cardio...

background: as a drug target and an antigenic agent, hiv-1 protease (hiv-1 pr) is at the center of attention for designing anti-aids inhibitors and diagnostic tests. in previous studies, the production of the recombinant protease has been faced with several difficulties; therefore, the aims of this study were the easy production, purification of the soluble form of protease in e. coli and inves...

HIV protease (PR) is required for proteolytic maturation in the late phase of HIV replication and represents a prime therapeutic target. The regulation and kinetics of viral polyprotein processing and maturation are currently not understood in detail. Here we design, synthesize, validate and apply a potent, photodegradable HIV PR inhibitor to achieve synchronized induction of proteolysis. The c...

BACKGROUND The 3-O-(3',3'-dimethylsuccinyl) derivative of betulinic acid (DSB) blocks HIV-1 maturation by interfering with viral protease (PR) at the capsid (CA)-SP1 cleavage site, a crucial region in HIV-1 morphogenesis. METHODS We analysed the effect of DSB on the assembly of HIV-1 Gag precursor (Pr55Gag(HIV)) into membrane-enveloped virus-like particles (VLP) in baculovirus-infected cells ...