Biology of HIV-1 and treatment strategies

Effective vaccines and treatments for HIV-1, the retrovirus responsible for AIDS, continue to be elusive. Many of the obstacles to more effective intervention can be traced to special properties of the virus itself. Although great progress has been made in our understanding of the biology of the virus, important gaps remain regarding how HIV-1 functions as an agent of disease. The poor track record of traditional approaches to date has also spurred the development and testing of novel strategies, such as gene therapy, for the treatment of HIV-1 disease.