Inhibitors and Probes of HIV-1 Cell Fusion

我们的项目“HIV-1细胞融合的抑制剂和探针”的长期目标和目的是识别和工程蛋白质和小分子治疗剂，探针和疫苗免疫原，可以用于治疗和长效管理HIV/AIDS。子项目包括设计和开发具有抑制剂和免疫原双重功能的新的gp 41衍生肽和蛋白质，发现和高分辨率结构表征新的碳水化合物结合蛋白，通过碳水化合物介导的与HIV gp 120/gp 41的相互作用有效抑制HIV-1进入，发现HIV-1细胞进入的天然产物抑制剂，以及HIV-1包膜-辅助受体相互作用的结构和机制研究。虽然在开发治疗方法和延长艾滋病毒感染者的预期寿命方面取得了很大进展，但我们没有治愈这种疾病的方法，仍然存在许多挑战，包括耐药性的发展以及治疗的成本和可用性。我们的研究计划旨在通过增加对病毒进入过程的了解和开发新型疗法来克服其中一些挑战。

The long term goals and objectives of our project "Inhibitors and Probes of HIV-1 Cell Fusion" are to identify and engineer protein and small molecule therapeutics, probes and vaccine immunogens that can be translated for the treatment and long acting administration of HIV/AIDS. Subprojects include design and development of new gp41-derived peptides and proteins that have dual functions as inhibitors and immunogens, discovery and high resolution structural characterization of new carbohydrate binding proteins that potently inhibit HIV-1 Entry through carbohydrate-mediated interactions with HIV gp120/gp41, discovery of natural product inhibitors of HIV-1 cell entry, and structural and mechanistic studies of HIV-1 Envelope-coreceptor interactions. Though great progress has been achieved in developing treatments for and extending the life expectancies of HIV infected individuals, we do not have a cure for this disease and many challenges remain including the development of drug resistance and the cost and availability of treatments. Our research program aims to overcome some of these challenges through through increased understanding of the viral entry process and development of novel classes of therapies.