Chemokine Inhibition of HIV Infection

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a member of the retro virus family, classified under the lentivirus genus. Retroviruses are enveloped RNA viruses, which contain a core of capsid proteins, viral RNA, and enzymes. All infectious retroviral virions contain an enzyme, reverse transcriptase, which catalyzes the formation of a complementary DNA strand from an RNA template. A double-stranded DNA copy of the viral RNA genome (proviral DNA) may then be integrated into and replicated with the host cell genome.