University of Minnesota researchers have identified the mechanism of a potential HIV drug target, which could be a more cost-effective option than currently used HIV drugs.<\/p>\n
The study expanded upon previous UMN research, which identified that the nucleoside 5-azacytidine (5-aza-C) blocked HIV\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to spread. 5-aza-C triggers lethal mutagenesis, a process in which HIV mutations speed up to a point that the HIV essentially wears itself out.<\/p>\n
A collaborative team of researchers at the University of Minnesota and Emory University found that 5-aza-C blocks HIV\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to spread by first converting to a DNA form (5-aza-deoxyC). The DNA conversion allows 5-aza-C to infiltrate HIV when the virus turns RNA into DNA, and therefore stops the virus from replicating.<\/p>\n
The majority of HIV medications currently on the market are DNA-based, but RNA-based drugs like 5-aza-C have a manufacturing advantage because they are more affordable to produce.<\/p>\n
The study was posted online and will appear in print in the American Society for Microbiology\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy<\/em> in April.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We now understand the mechanism for how 5-aza-C blocks HIV\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s infectivity through hypermutation. This information may aid in developing cheaper HIV drugs,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said lead-author Louis Mansky, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Molecular Virology and professor in the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. Mansky is also a Masonic Cancer Center member.<\/p>\n This also helps explain why 5-aza-C is able to block HIV infectivity, despite its RNA-origin. 5-aza-C acts similarly to its DNA-based counterpart 5-aza-deoxyC, but is not nearly as effective. However, it can be mass-produced more cheaply.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153More than half of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s HIV population is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa where there is very limited access to HIV drugs and treatment. Our study could lead to developing more cost-effective medication, which in turn could lead to new and more economical treatments for poorer, developing countries,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mansky said.<\/p>\n 5-aza-C has been approved by the FDA for clinical use in treating myelodysplastic syndrome, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only available as an IV-based medication. The study\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s findings encourage efforts to explore ways to produce 5-aza-C in capsule form.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153While it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not as effective as its DNA-based form, we can use what we know to try mimicking 5-aza-C to discover new compounds that could be more effective, while still being more affordable to produce,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mansky said.<\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another step towards ultimately finding a cure for HIV, Mansky says.<\/p>\n In addition to being more cost-effective HIV drugs, these RNA-based drugs could have potential use in the treatment of a wide variety of emerging viral infections, including Zika virus, Ebola virus, MERS virus and influenza virus.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n Mansky collaborated with Steven Patterson, Ph.D., in the University of Minnesota\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Center for Drug Design and Baek Kim, Ph.D., R.Ph., at Emory University. Patterson is a Masonic Cancer Center member.<\/p>\n This research was funded in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health [R01 GM105876, T32 AI83196, F31 DA035720].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" University of Minnesota researchers have identified the mechanism of a potential HIV drug target, which could be a more cost-effective option than currently used HIV drugs. The study expanded upon previous UMN research, which identified that the nucleoside 5-azacytidine (5-aza-C) blocked HIV\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to spread. 5-aza-C triggers lethal mutagenesis, a process in which HIV mutations Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}