First diagnosed in 1982 in New York City, HIV is the acronym for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV attacks human T lymphocytes expressing the CD4 receptor complex. CD4 is composed of two co-receptors known as “CCR5” and “CXCR4”, as illustrated in Figure 3.
For successful human T cell infection, HIV viral glycoprotein 120 (gp120) binds to the CD4 receptor, together with one of the two co-receptors. This binding leads to viral internalization, followed by reverse transcription from viral RNA to viral DNA. Viral DNA then becomes incorporated into the CD4 T cell genome for subsequent viral production and assembly, accompanied by virions budding off the phospholipid bilayer of the host CD4 T cell. The steps are illustrated in Figure 4.
