Oncogene Science, Inc., 106 Charles Lindbergh Blvd., Uniondale, NY 11553

Received 6/2/97; Accepted 6/4/97

5. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVE

The recent excitement generated by the combination therapies using reverse trancriptase inhibitors and protease inhibitors has produced renewed interest on the part of the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry to search for new therapies targeting other viral proteins, such as integrase. Because of its crucial function in HIV replication, Rev represents an attractive target. Gene therapy and nucleic acid-based approaches have been the primary focus of both academic and industry researchers in this area. Although these novel therapies are very promising, they are still in early stages. The encouraging results of these approaches in tissue culture systems validate Rev as a target for anti-HIV intervention. Using more classical approaches, some Rev inhibitors have been discovered, although none of them appears to be likely to be developed into a therapeutic agents. All of these approaches are in early phases, and these first attempts represent proof-of-principle experiments indicating that Rev-RRE interactions can be disrupted by small molecules, and that Rev interactions with the cellular machinery of nuclear export are also a valid molecular target for drug discovery.