Female 1: If you are infected with HIV, you are probably thankful that modern medicine offers a variety of treatments, and a little confused about how they work.
Female 2: HIV is incurable and can lead to the potentially deadly disease, AIDS. The good news is that medications can slow the spread of HIV and allow people who are infected to remain healthier for longer. To understand how medication works, it is helpful to understand the life cycle of HIV.
The cyclical process begins when HIV enters the body, and attaches to receptors on T-cells, located in the immune system. One group of anti-HIV medications, entry inhibitors, stops this attachment process and entry inhibitor binds either to the immune system’s T-cells or to the invading HIV thereby, blocking the virus from bonding with healthy T-cells. Currently, the only FDA approved entry inhibitor is marketed as Fuzeon.
Two other types of medication, work to stop the second part of HIV’s life cycle, reversed transcription. When HIV infects the cell, it copies its genetic code into that cell’s DNA. As a result, the T cell is programmed to create more copies of HIV. But because HIV is in the form of RNA, it must convert itself to the body’s genetic makeup, DNA, before it can infect the T-cells, this is reverse transcription.
Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or NRTIs are one type of medication that stops this process by interfering with the nucleotides or building blocks that converts RNA to DNA. In this manner, the new DNA cannot be built and the cell cannot produce more HIV. The first HIV drug, AZT or Retrovere is an NRTI medication.
Another type of medication which blocks RNA from converting to DNA is called non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or NNRTIs. While NNRTIs have the same mission as NRTIs, they accomplish it differently. HIV cannot transcribe its RNA to DNA, without the aid of the transcriptase enzyme. NNRTI medications attach themselves to this enzyme and prevent the virus from converting. For FDA approved NNRTI medications can help stop this conversion process, if final anti-HIV treatment works to stop the last step with HIV infection viral assembly.
During viral assembly, a strand of DNA is cut up and put together to form new copies of HIV. This process requires the help of an enzyme, called protease. A group of medications called protease inhibitors or PIs block the protease enzyme from cutting up the genetic material that will become HIV, thus, stopping new cells of the virus from forming. There are ten PI medications on the market including Aptivus, Kaletra, and Viracept.
For anti retroviral treatment to be effective for a long time, multiple medications are usually taken. Most HIV patients are familiar wit the term HAART, which stands for Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy. And it is used to describe the combining of three or more HIV drugs.
One drug, Atripla, which is known as the Triple Cocktail combines two NNRIs with one NNRTI. This medication is generally considered to be once a day all inclusive HIV treatment.
HIV treatment is an individualized process, so it is important to adhere to your doctors instructions when taking medication, to ensure that your body remains as healthy as it can for as long as possible.
Female 2: Want to learn more? Check out other videos and sources on this site for more information.
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