Publications by authors named "Hala El Mekdad"
One of the top research priorities of the international AIDS society by the action "Towards an HIV Cure" is the purge or the decrease of the pool of all latently infected cells. This strategy is based on reactivation of latently reservoirs (the shock) followed by an intensifying combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) to kill them (the kill). The central nervous system (CNS) has potential latently infected cells, i.
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- - The integrated HIV-1 DNA in infected cells is transcribed into full-length RNA (FL RNA), which encodes key components for virus assembly, linking the interaction of Gag proteins with this RNA to initiate virion formation.
- - Researchers have identified RPL7, a ribosomal protein, as a co-factor that interacts with the NC domain of Gag, enhancing its RNA chaperoning ability, which is crucial for the assembly process and independent of other interactions.
- - The findings suggest that RPL7, through its strong chaperone activity, aids Gag in the nucleic acid hybridization process, potentially playing a significant role in the early stages of HIV-1 assembly.
Improving combination antiretroviral therapy by targeting HIV-1 gene transcription.
Expert Opin Ther Targets
November 2016
Combination Antiretroviral Therapy (cART) has not allowed the cure of HIV. The main obstacle to HIV eradication is the existence of quiescent reservoirs. Several other limitations of cART have been described, such as strict life-long treatment and high costs, restricting it to Western countries, as well as the development of multidrug resistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany studies have been performed to assess potential utility of natural products as immunomodulants to enhance antitumor activity in situ. In this study, an essential oil (EO) from the aerial parts of Pituranthos tortuosus was prepared using hydrodistillation, its composition was characterized, and its immunomodulatory potential was assessed. The results indicated that the EO contained sabinene, α-pinene, limonene, and terpinen-4-ol as major constituents.
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