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Biomedical Basics

HIV and retroviruses

  • Created by Henry Stewart Talks
Published on December 31, 2025   4 min

A selection of talks on Immunology & Inflammation

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The topic of HIV and retroviruses will be explored through the basic structure and unique replication strategy of retroviruses using HIV as a key example. We will examine how HIV infects and persists within CD4+ T cells leading to immune system decline and AIDS. Next, we'll discuss modes of transmission, diagnostic methods and how antiretroviral therapy manages infection. Finally, we'll review current prevention strategies, challenges in vaccine development and promising avenues of ongoing cure research. Let's begin by exploring the basic structure of retroviruses, focusing on HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus. Retroviruses are small spherical viruses, 80-100 nanometers in diameter with an outer lipid envelope from the host cell. This envelope has glycoproteins like HIV's gp120 and gp41 for attaching to target cells. Inside, the gag protein capsid contains two RNA copies and enzymes, reverse transcriptase integrase and proteas. HIV also has regulatory proteins aiding replication and its genome is about 9.2 kilobases. Central to retroviral biology is the unique replication strategy involving reverse transcription. Retroviruses like HIV carry their genetic information as RNA rather than DNA. Once inside a host cell, HIV's reverse transcriptase copies the RNA genome into complementary DNA.

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