HIV/AIDS and the genetic revolution - Custom tailoring antiretroviral regimens in the management of HIV

The AIDS pandemic has already taken the lives of over 25 million people since 1981 and there are over 40 million people living with HIV. The replication of this virus depends on the unique production of a DNA copy of its genome from a single-stranded RNA template. This phenomenon has two critical outcomes: it creates a target for effective antiretroviral drugs and generates an ever-increasing number of genetic variants of the virus that leads to drug-resistant strains. The molecular basis for drug resistance stems from mutations in viral enzymes, each mutation corresponding to the acquisition of resistance to different sets of drugs. Thus genotypic testing, determining the mutation profile of a patient's HIV, can provide insight to the clinician as to how to design a most effective cocktail of drugs for that patient. The basis and the power of genotypic testing in HIV therapy is presented.