Open AccessAn Overview of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Antiretroviral Drugs: General Principles and Current Status
Author(s) -
Yoonseok Shin,
Chul Min Park,
Cheol Hee Yoon
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
infection and chemotherapy/gam'yeom gwa hwahag yo'beob/infection and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.724
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2092-6448
pISSN - 1598-8112
DOI - 10.3947/ic.2020.0100
Subject(s) - medicine , zidovudine , reverse transcriptase , drug , pharmacology , integrase , integrase inhibitor , virology , drug resistance , dolutegravir , adverse effect , nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , antiretroviral therapy , viral load , viral disease , biology , rna , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , gene
Treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can prolong a patient's life-span by disrupting pivotal steps in the replication cycle of the human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1). However, drug resistance is emerging as a major problem worldwide due to the prolonged period of treatment undergone by HIV-1 patients. Since the approval of zidovudine in 1987, over thirty antiretroviral drugs have been categorized into the following six distinct classes based on their biological function and resistance profiles: (1) nucleoside analog reverse-transcriptase inhibitors; (2) non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors; (3) integrase strand transferase inhibitors; (4) protease inhibitors; (5) fusion inhibitors; and (6) co-receptor antagonists. Additionally, several antiretroviral drugs have been developed recently, such as a long active drug, humanized antibody and pro-drug metabolized into an active form in the patient's body. Although plenty of antiretroviral drugs are beneficially used to treat patients with HIV-1, the ongoing efforts to develop antiretroviral drugs have overcome the drug resistances, adverse effects, and limited adherence of drugs observed in previous drugs to some extent. Furthermore, studies focused on agents targeting latent HIV-1 reservoirs should be strengthened, as that may lead to eradication of HIV-1.