1. ¹Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
2. ²Baxter Laboratory of Genetic Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Correspondence: Professor G Nolan, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, School of Medicine, 269 Campus Dr., CCSR 3205, Baxter Lab, Stanford, USA

Abstract

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), kills millions worldwide every year. Vaccines against HIV still seem a distant promise. Pharmaceutical treatments exist, but these are not always effective, and there is increasing prevalence of viral strains with multidrug resistance. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) consists of inhibitors of viral enzymes (reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease). Gene therapy, first introduced as intracellular immunization, may offer hopes for new treatments to be used alone, or in conjunction with, conventional small molecule drugs. Gene therapy approaches against HIV-1, including suicide genes, RNA-based technology, dominant negative viral proteins, intracellular antibodies, intrakines, and peptides, are the subject of this review.