Treatment:

Beginning at the beginning

Before we start talking about treatments, it’s important to show how the virus enters the body, what happens to your cells and how different types of drugs (also known as drug classes) act at different phases of the virus life cycle.

Simplified Life Cycle of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus

- Adapted from the Merck Manual

Like all viruses, HIV can’t reproduce or replicate by itself; it needs to penetrate a cell first, then it takes over that cell (usually a CD4 lymphocyte) and starts making copies of itself using the genetic makeup of the infected cells.

  • 1. Entry/fusion inhibitors (EIs) work here. HIV first attaches, binds and penetrates (fuses) the cell.
  • 2. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) work here. HIV is a retrovirus which means it stores its genetic information as RNA (most living things use DNA). The HIV releases RNA into the cell, which is then converted to DNA using an enzyme called reverse transcriptase.
  • 3. The viral DNA enters the cell’s nucleus.
  • 4. Integrase inhibitors (IIs) work here. The viral DNA becomes integrated into the cell’s DNA through the use of an enzyme called integrase.
  • 5. The infected cell’s DNA now produces RNA and proteins for the assembly of a new HIV.
  • 6. A new virus is assembled
  • 7. Protease inhibitors (PIs) work here. The virus exits the cell (or buds), wrapping itself in part of the cell membrane to break off from the infected cell.
  • 8. The budded virus must mature in order to infect other cells. It can only become mature when another enzyme, known as protease, cuts structural proteins in the virus, causing them to rearrange.

Educational videos

a portrayal of 3 people with HIV and their own take on their journey of living with HIV. a quick run-through of an HIV clinic and what to expect. separating myth from reality regarding side effects of treatment. a look at HIV and aging.