HIV protease inhibitors and apoptosis / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

CD4 +T cells from patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection undergo apoptosis at an enhanced rate, which leads to immune system damage and invalidation to withstand the virus intrusion. The current antiviral drugs aim at the virus can not clear the chronically infected cells which are the virus reservoirs. But treatment of HIV/AIDS patients with the HIV protease inhibitors (PIs) can reduce the cell apoptosis induced by HIV infection, which can improve immune function, and that is separate from the antiviral effects of PIs. Such suggests that immune reconstruction is a new strategy to cure AIDS. This text reviews HIV PIs research and development, their function characteristics and the effects on cell apoptosis. To define the relationship between HIV PIs and cell apoptosis may inspire new ways of curing the AIDS.-