Models of HIV-1 disease: A review of current status

There is an urgent need for more effective drugs to treat HIV-1 infection and AIDS, in particular new compounds with activity against virus resistant to currently licensed antiretrovirals. Drug resistance occurs in >50% of patients on antiretroviral therapy and is the leading cause of treatment failure. The highly specific tropism of HIV-1 for human cells makes disease modeling a considerable challenge. To address this challenge, several models have been developed enabling greater insight into disease pathogenesis and more efficient evaluation of new therapies.

Section editors:Enitan Carrol – Malawi–Liverpool–Wellcome Trust Clinical Research, Blantyre and Liverpool, Malawi and UKAndrew Riordan – Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham, UK