The integrase of the human immunodeficiency virus as a novel target for the antiviral therapy of AIDS.

ABSTRACT

Integration of the proviral DNA is a crucial step in the life cycle of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Basic understanding of the cell biology of HIV integration will help the development of new antiviral drugs to complement the currently used cocktails of reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors. Our research team has made major advancement in the field of antiviral research in recent years. The scientific-technological achievements were possible by the collaboration of a group of researchers with complementary research expertise. The integrase team is headed by Myriam Witvrouw and Zeger Debyser. After a general overview we summarized our most relevant publications. In the perspectives we referred to the ongoing work.