Targeting Lipids to Prevent HIV Infection

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Abstract
Combination drug therapies exist that combat HIV replication and the production of virions. But just as the easiest way to deal with an interloper is to keep him from entering your home rather than removing him after the fact, most studies directed at reducing HIV infection are designed to keep HIV at bay, outside the host cell. Work on keeping HIV out has progressed from early work on CD4 to the chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR4 found on the surface of host cells. More recently, the depletion of cholesterol, the presence of which is essential for HIV entry, has been studied as a means to subvert HIV entry, and new work by Finnegan and others suggest that another useful strategy may involve increasing the amount of the sphingolipid ceramide found in lipid rafts on the surface of host cells. Increased ceramide might inhibit HIV entry by a number of means, including the displacement of cholesterol and modifying the overall organization and structure of the lipid rafts.

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