Anti-HIV-1 nanotherapeutics: promises and challenges for the future.
The advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has significantly improved the prognosis for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, however the adverse side effects associated with prolonged HAART therapy use continue. Although systemic viral load can be undetectable, the virus remains sequestered in anatomically privileged sites within the body. Nanotechnology-based delivery systems are being developed to target the virus within different tissue compartments and are being evaluated for their safety and efficacy. The current review outlines the various nanomaterials that are becoming increasingly used in biomedical applications by virtue of their robustness, safety, multimodality, and multifunctionality. Nanotechnology can revolutionize the field of HIV medicine by not only improving diagnosis, but also by improving delivery of antiretrovirals to targeted regions in the body and by significantly enhancing the efficacy of the currently available antiretroviral medications.
Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Buffalo, NY, USA. smahajan@buffalo.edu
Supriya D
SD
Mahajan
Ravikumar
R
Aalinkeel
Wing-Cheung
WC
Law
Jessica L
JL
Reynolds
Bindukumar B
BB
Nair
Donald E
DE
Sykes
Ken-Tye
KT
Yong
Indrajit
I
Roy
Paras N
PN
Prasad
Stanley A
SA
Schwartz
D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015195:Drug Design; D005544:Forecasting; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000628:therapy*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D053769:Nanocapsules / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D053769:Nanocapsules