HXB2 gag NO Fragments

After decades of development, AIDS has spread rapidly around the world, and has become the most terrible infectious disease endangering human health around the world. One of the two drugs used in the highly effective antiretroviral treatment of (HAART) for AIDS is the protease inhibitor (PI), which integrates two reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors. However, the emergence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) PR mutation hinders the development of antiviral therapy. Therefore, more and better PI are needed for clinical application. At the same time, in all cases, new and powerful screening models are needed to verify new drugs, which can complement the existing screening models. The expression of HIV PR is a premise to screen susceptive PR target peptide, so scientists selected HIV-1 HXB2 PR for expression, purification and identification, which is the representative of HIV-1 M group B clade.

Studies about HXB2

Although the requirements for protective immune responses against HIV type 1 (HIV-1) are not well defined, growing evidence suggests that cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) immune responses are critical in controlling HIV-1 infection. A large number of CTL studies have been carried out on HIV/AIDS patients in Caucasus in Europe and the United States. Some HIV vaccines, such as DNA-rMVA, DNA-rAd5, and DNA/IL-2/Ig and so on, are undergoing clinical trials. CTL is mainly composed of CD8⁺ T cells. HXB2 strain is a common HIV strain in the United States and Europe. HIV-1gag is a relatively conservative structural protein.

Conclusion

In the United States, clade B is the main subtype of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), while in sub-Saharan Africa, branches A, C and D are the main subtypes. HIV subtypes may have an effect on the progression of HIV. As far as we know, the impact of HIV subtypes on the risk of dementia has not been studied. Some findings provide evidence that HIV subtypes may be associated with their ability to cause cognitive impairment. More research is needed to confirm this observation and to determine the mechanism by which subtypes increase the risk of neuropathic disease.

References

1. Zhang, H., Qiu, Z., Jiao, Y., Wang, A., & Li, T. (2009). HIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses to HXB2 Gag and Nef peptide pools in Chinese HIV/AIDS patients. Science in China Series C: Life Sciences, 52(9), 841-846.
2. Sacktor, N., Nakasujja, N., Skolasky, R. L., Rezapour, M., Robertson, K., Musisi, S., ... & Quinn, T. C. (2009). HIV subtype D is associated with dementia, compared with subtype A, in immunosuppressed individuals at risk of cognitive impairment in Kampala, Uganda. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 49(5), 780-786.