HIV Progression to AIDS: Bioinformatics Approach to Determining the Mechanism of Action

Journal: Curr HIV Res

Date: January 2013

ID: PMID: 22998236

The mechanism by which HIV translates to AIDS has been expressed clinically in various ways. No study has computationally look at the degrees of inter-molecular interaction that exist between the HIV isolates and their target, the host CD4. In this study, we investigated the level off affinity between the R5 variants found in the early stage of the infection and the X4 mutants that abound during the late stage. Our results revealed that the X4 mutants have greater attraction to the CD4 than the R5 variants. This therefore suggest that during the late stage, the R5 variants transform into X4 mutant to increase their attachment to the CD4, continue to erode them until the CD4 is wiped out, which then manifest clinically as immune collapse, AIDS.

This study is available via PMID: 22998236