Why Funding For Nih Should Continue

Reverse transcriptase is when DNA copies are made of the RNA virus. This allows for the DNA to be integrated with the human cells genome which is later used to make more virus particles by infecting other cells.

As have been described above, HIV can have a potential effect on immunological cells, which are important to protect the body from additional infections such as Tuberculosis (TB), Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and other viral or bacterial infections. An effective treatment is needed to reconstruct what HIV has damaged. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a common treatment to stop the viral replication and decrease the disease progression, which may lead to a vast decline of the morbidity and mortality. The standard treatment involves a combination of at least three drugs; often known as a highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) where the most common types are Nucleoside reverse transcriptase

Continuing the support of the agency National Institutes of Health by its umbrella The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services supports one of the main goals in their strategic plan, Advance Scientific Knowledge and Innovation. "When health is absent Wisdom cannot reveal itself, Art cannot become manifest, Strength cannot be exerted, Wealth is useless and Reason is powerless." (Herophilies, 300 B.C.)

Everyday, people all over the world are suffering from life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and chicken pox. Diseases may not seem like that big of a problem to us, but that is only because we rarely have to deal with such problems due to our blessing of herd immunity inside American borders. If you are a citizen of the United States, you probably know about the safety and protection we are provided by living here. Consequently, you may attribute our security to government and troops, the protection of our health provided to United States’ citizens is the backbone of what continues to grow our population, better our country, and prevent epidemic outbreaks. Scientists and doctors play a

The National Institutes of Health has roots that started this establishment since 1891. It has held many names, however in 1930 the Ransdell Act changed the name of the Hygienic Laboratory to National Institute of Health (NIH). There are 27 different centers and institutes that together make up the NIH. The role of NIH is to be the federal agency to oversee, conduct, and support biomedical and behavioral research. Having over 27 different centers allows the NIH to have a great impact within the healthcare system. Activities range everywhere from clinical and focusing on particular diseases to collecting health information. Looking from a Presidential standpoint, the support for activities has been a rollercoaster ride. Before the Bush Administration

Since the arrival of triple therapy, the challenge of sustained and complete viral suppression has been solved for the majority of patients [1]. The major limiting factors for improving the long-term success of ART are tolerability and convenient pill burden [2]. The latest class of the antiretroviral drug developed are Integrase inhibitors (INI). Dolutegravir (DTG) is an Integrase inhibitor, particularly focused on maintaining a favorable safety profile and a high efficiency rate, within a single-tablet regime (STR), it improves resistance barrier and allowing co-formulation with an NRTI backbone. Dolutegravir has been compared against both other classes of HIV anti-retrovirals as well as other integrase nuclear strand inhibitors. In August 2013, DTG was approved by FDA for its use in both patients who have never taken ART (ART-naïve) and patients who have taken ART (ART-experienced) [3]. It is predicted that very soon a STR containing Dolutegravir (DTG), abacavir (ABC) and lamivudine (3TC) will become

Treatment development focused on limiting the virus' ability to transcribe and replicate copies of itself within the host cell. Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme coded by the virus RNA. Reverse transcriptase (RT) allows the RNA to make a functioning DNA copy that is inserted into the host cell DNA and begin manufacturing copies of new viral RNA identical to the strands in the initial viron. RT is found only in retroviruses and focus on AIDS treatment has been on inhibiting the function of RT in HIV action within a host cell( Furman, P. A. Fyfe, J. A. St.Clair, M. H.; Wenhold, J. Rideout, J. L., Broder, S., Mitsuya, H.; Barry, D. W. 1985).

In a move to transform the nation's medical research capabilities and speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench to the bedside, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has laid out a series of far-reaching initiatives known

If the government can invest in the military they should be able to invest more money into medical research. The National Institutes of Health(NIH) invests nearly $32.3 billion on medical research while the government is more worried about the military. In 2003 $94 billion was

Recently in Cuba a new and aggressive strain of HIV has been discovered and this strain causes an early development of AIDS in people within 3 years of being infected with HIV. Usually it takes five to ten years for a person with HIV to progress to AIDS but only if the person is not under anti-retroviral therapy treatment. Individuals who are HIV positive usually don’t feel or look sick immediately which is why they do not take ART treatment during the clinical latency stage of the infection. The new “recombinant” strain of HIV takes advantage of this situation by causing a rapid progression of HIV to AIDS and cutting short the time needed for HIV positive patients to exhibit early symptoms, which could help them be aware of their infection

At that point, the following stride for the HIV disease is getting its hereditary material into the host 's cell 's DNA. Ignatavicius (2013) states that "HIV fits in with a group of infections called retroviruses; its hereditary material is single-stranded RNA" (p.359). The hereditary material of the human cell is twofold stranded DNA. With the goal HIV should contaminate and assume control over a human cell, the hereditary material must be the same. HIV conquers this issue by bringing a chemical called reverse transcriptase, which changes over RNA to DNA. This makes HIV have the same hereditary material as the human cell DNA. This finishes the disease of the CD4 T-cell. HIV debilitates the safe framework by expelling some CD4 T-cells from flow. It makes that range a HIV manufacturing plant where it can keep on duplicating its infection.

strains: HIV-1 and HIV-2. Retroviral RNA is converted to DNA by a virally encoded reverse

HIV can currently be regulated by several successful treatments. The current rates of infection have been on the decline due to education, prevention, and getting people treatment according to UNAIDS1. However, a cure has not been found. With a rapidly changing virus, it will be hard to definitively create a cure anytime soon. However, there are a few new ways of treating the virus already infecting genomes of many people. These treatments will work with the current methods being used and will not be an alternative to them. The main treatments that will be discussed are the current Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), and the new CRISPR/CAS9 treatment.

Currently, there are no vaccines and no cures for HIV or AIDS, although scientists are researching and finding new drugs and treatments. So far, scientists have discovered a variety of drugs and medication that can be used to control and slow the virus and the progression of the disease. There are some drugs which interfere with the virus ability to make copies of itself by disabling a protein it needs, like Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. If someone is diagnosed with HIV, it is important to start with treatments as soon as possible.

There has been countless number of efforts to develop an effective gene transfer approach to treat HIV-1 infections globally. Many transgenes have been identified to inhibit in vitro HIV-1 infections. As drug resistant HIV-1 is increasingly common even with patients receiving HAART, designing drug treatment methods have been challenging. Therefore, investigation into new therapeutic approaches should continue. Gene delivery plays an important supporting role developing potential therapies directed towards HIV-1 infections. The goals of the anti-HIV-1 gene therapy are to deliver transgenes to directly susceptible cells, Immunize against HIV-1 antigens, inhibit HIV-1 proliferation in target organs, and deliver to Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells. Delivering transgenes to susceptible cells will make them resistant to HIV-1 infections and inhibit viral replication. When CCR5 a major coreceptor for HIV was disrupted in the “Berlin Patient” led to the revival of gene therapy. The naturally occurring CCR5-Δ32 mutation that results in a frameshift mutation dislocates the CCR5 expression on the cell surface. The “Berlin patient” who was HIV+ patient with lymphoma was transplanted with bone marrow from a donor with CCR5-Δ32 mutation and became ‘cured’ of HIV. But as only a small general population with CCR5-Δ32 mutation can be identified alternative methods must be identified for gene therapy.