HIV-1 assembly and budding as targets for drug discovery.

Research conducted during the past several years has led to an increased understanding of the roles played by the viral protein Gag and specific cellular factors in HIV assembly/budding. The identification of compounds that interfere with this process validates this late step in virus replication as a target for HIV therapeutic discovery. In this review, current understanding of HIV-1 assembly/budding is described and several developmental stage drugs that target this process are reviewed.