News Room - University of Rochester Medical Center: "'The first cells that HIV infects in the genital tract are non-dividing target cell types such as macrophages and resting T cells' said Kim. 'Current drugs were developed to be effective only when the infection has already moved beyond these cells. Perhaps we can use this information to help create a microbicide to stop the virus or limit its activity much earlier.'
"Kim notes that a compound that targets rNTP already exists. Cordycepin in an experimental compound, derived from wild mushrooms, that is currently being tested as an anti-cancer drug. The team plans to test similar compounds for anti-HIV activity.
"'This significant breakthrough was unappreciated prior to our paper. We are now exploiting new anti-HIV drugs jointly based on this novel approach that are essentially not toxic and that can be used to treat and prevent HIV infections,' said Schinazi, who has developed several of the drugs currently used to treat HIV patients."
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