Mission 1
Query Molecule: #WT1763, a Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor known as Stavudine
Match Molecule: #WT1370, #WT1374, #WT1413, and #WT1857
Target Disease: HIV
Mission Objective: Find which of the match molecules will act as a Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor by comparing it to Stavudine. Tweet your answers and insights.
Mission Details:
Target Disease: HIV
Mission Objective: Find which of the match molecules will act as a Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor by comparing it to Stavudine. Tweet your answers and insights.
Mission Details:
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). When the virus infects a person, it weakens the person’s immune system and makes them susceptible to other infections and cancers. In fact, a person with AIDS generally will die from a secondary disease, and not AIDS itself, because their body can’t fight off the new infection. (
One of the key steps of HIV infection is the ability for the virus to get its genetic information into a host cell. To do this, the virus uses a protein called Reverse Transcriptase (RT) to turn its RNA into DNA. This DNA can then insert into a human cell’s own DNA and cause the cell to start making new viruses. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) are drugs which can help stop HIV by preventing the elongation of the newly synthesized DNA. Since NRTIs look a lot like normal DNA bases, they get incorporated into the DNA chain. However, NRTIs lack key chemical groups which allow the DNA to keep elongating, so the DNA just falls off and is unable to be used for virus replication. (
One Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor is Stavudine, which can be found in the commercial product Zerit. (#WT1763). Unfortunately, resistance to Stavudine has been reported, arising from mutations in HIV RT. To stay ahead of the disease, we need to find drugs which will not suffer from resistance.
We have 4 additional molecules which may also be a Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor:
#WT1370
#WT1374
#WT1413,
and #WT1857
By comparing these molecules to Stavudine, which of these molecules do you think may help cure HIV?
Make sure to tweet your answer and insights!
DrgDscvry
One of the key steps of HIV infection is the ability for the virus to get its genetic information into a host cell. To do this, the virus uses a protein called Reverse Transcriptase (RT) to turn its RNA into DNA. This DNA can then insert into a human cell’s own DNA and cause the cell to start making new viruses. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) are drugs which can help stop HIV by preventing the elongation of the newly synthesized DNA. Since NRTIs look a lot like normal DNA bases, they get incorporated into the DNA chain. However, NRTIs lack key chemical groups which allow the DNA to keep elongating, so the DNA just falls off and is unable to be used for virus replication. (
One Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor is Stavudine, which can be found in the commercial product Zerit. (#WT1763). Unfortunately, resistance to Stavudine has been reported, arising from mutations in HIV RT. To stay ahead of the disease, we need to find drugs which will not suffer from resistance.
We have 4 additional molecules which may also be a Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor:
#WT1370
#WT1374
#WT1413,
and #WT1857
By comparing these molecules to Stavudine, which of these molecules do you think may help cure HIV?
Make sure to tweet your answer and insights!
DrgDscvry
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