Development of therapeutics to target host cell factors involved in HIV pathogenesis

Background:

UNAIDS and the WHO estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in recorded history. Currently, in USA alone, it is estimated that one million people are living with HIV or AIDS and roughly 55,000 more become infected each year. Although there is no cure for HIV infection, treatment with anti-retroviral drugs that target the HIV virus can significantly extend the lifespan of HIV-infected patients. Unfortunately, due to the rapid evolution of the HIV virus, many antiviral drugs are rendered ineffective by the emergence of drug-resistant viral variants. Therefore, it is imperative that alternative strategies to combat HIV infection are developed. One such creative strategy taken by UCSF scientists is to identify host cell factors that are vital for HIV replication and to generate products to neutralize these factors while preserving normal host cell function.

Invention:

Innovative scientists at UCSF have a) identified a number of host factors involved in HIV replication using a novel, elegant screening method; and b) generated siRNA products to knockdown the expression of six of these host factors. Importantly, the team successfully demonstrated that knockdown of any one of these six factors significantly reduced HIV replication rates. Therefore, the screen and / or siRNAs would be an important asset to companies with an anti-HIV therapeutic focus.

File Number: 20559 

Web site: http://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/...

Disease: Infectious Diseases

Other Information:

Partnership opportunities: This invention is available for licensing and the inventors welcome the opportunity to collaborate with industry partners.

Publications
Joshi and Stoddart. Impaired infectivity of ritonavir-resistant HIV is rescued by heat shock protein 90ab1. J. Biol. Chem. 2011 jbc.M111.248021. First Published on May 20, 2011, doi:10.1074/jbc.M111.248021