RNAi-based treatment of HIV/AIDS: Current status and perspectives

The global HIV epidemic kills around 3 million people annually and attempts to control further spread have been of limited success. The efficacy of antiviral drug therapy has been limited by toxicity and viral resistance. Thus, alternative therapies need to be explored. Recently RNA interference (RNAi) has been shown to efficiently inhibit gene expression in a sequence-specific manner. Therefore, RNAi mediated treatment of HIV is a promising alternative for future therapy of HIV/AIDS.

Section editors:Gary Woodnutt – CovX, San Diego, USAPaul-Henri Lambert – Centre of Vaccinology, University of Geneva, Switzerland