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Biological Compounds Of Marine Organisms Essay

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Biologically active compounds found in marine organisms have been extremely useful when combating again human immunodeficiency virus. One compound in particular which is found in sponges, Papuamide A, has been reported to have cytoprotective activity against HIV-1 in-vitro. There are many other representatives that can be found in the same class as Papuamide A; however, due to the slight change in their structure, the way they effect HIV is different. Papuamide A exhibits a potent inhibitory effect on the infection of T-Lymphoblastoid cells by HIV and has been able to combat against drug resistant HIV strains.
Introduction. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) has infected over 33.2 million people world-wide to date [9]. There is a plethora of new and upcoming drugs that are being used to combat against human immunodeficiency virus. Although effective, the drugs that are being used to combat against HIV-1 have also been known to cause resistance, adverse effects and toxicity to the mitochondria [3]. HIV-1 is a retrovirus that belongs to a subfamily of retroviruses called lentiviruses [8]. HIV-1 causes a slow depletion of the immune system and is considered a slow degenerative disease. New drugs that combat against HIV-1 entering into different cells has raised interest due to the fact that these new drugs are able to work against drug resistant viruses that can infect the cell.
Glycoprotein 120 (gp-120) is necessary for virus entry into human cells. Gp-120 has a

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