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Review
. 2014 Nov;12(11):772-80.
doi: 10.1038/nrmicro3351. Epub 2014 Sep 29.

A mechanistic theory to explain the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy

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Review

A mechanistic theory to explain the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy

Sarah B Laskey et al. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2014 Nov.

Abstract

In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, a diagnosis of HIV-1 infection was equivalent to a death sentence. The development of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in the 1990s to combat HIV-1 infection was one of the most impressive achievements of medical science. Today, patients who are treated early with cART can expect a near-normal lifespan. In this Opinion article, we propose a fundamental theory to explain the mechanistic basis of cART and why it works so well, including a model to assess and predict the efficacy of antiretroviral drugs alone or in combination.

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