Figure 1

Depicting key events of HIV-1 life cycle targeted by anti-retroviral drugs. The anti-retroviral drugs target four critical steps of the viral life cycle which are fusion (or entry) of virion in the susceptible cell, reverse transcription, integration of proviral DNA into host chromatin and polyprotein processing by viral encoded protease. Depending upon the steps they target, the anti-retroviral drugs are termed as fusion (entry) inhibitors (a), reverse transcriptase inhibitors (b), integrase inhibitors (c) and protease inhibitors (d). Targeting single step at a time usually results in the emergence of resistant mutants. ART is formulation of these inhibitors which suppresses HIV-1 growth to a significant extent. Please note that virus assembly in macrophages takes place at both plasma membrane (e) as well as in virus containing compartments (f)[47]. Only key proteins involved in HIV-1 life cycle in macrophage have been shown. Abbreviations: RT- reverse transcriptase, MA- matrix protein, IN- Integrase, Vpr-Viral protein R, P- virus encoded protease, PIC- Pre-integration complex, MVB- multi vesicular bodies, LE- late endosomes and VCC- virus containing compartment.