Despite highly Th-1165a active antiretroviral therapy , there is an increased risk of hepatitis/ liver-related deaths among co-infected drug users compared to HCV-mono-infected drug users. 309913-83-5 Moreover, HCV-mediated accelerated liver disease is thought to be the main cause of the mortality in HIV-1/HCV co-infected patients. One strategy to address these problems is to identify drugs that concurrently diminish infection and replication of both HCV and HIV-1. Since CypI exhibit antiviral activities against both HIV-1 and HCV individually, we asked in this study whether CypI could inhibit HCV and HIV-1 in the context of co-infection. Indeed, HIV-1 was found to rely on CypA to optimally replicate in human cells and found to be sensitive to CypI such as CsA and non-immunosuppressive CsA derivates. The HIV-1 target cells��blood-derived CD4+ T-lymphocytes��were isolated as described previously. The Scripps Research Institute Normal Blood Donor Service provides investigators at TSRI who have Human Subjects Committee-approved protocols with a source of normal blood for their research. Donors are assured of a controlled clinical setting for their blood to be drawn by licensed phlebotomists, and investigators are assured that the donors whose specimens they obtain through the service have been screened upon entry into the program and annually thereafter for a CBC, Hepatitis B and C and HIV. Hemoglobin determinations at every donation protect the donor from phlebotomy-induced anemia. The donor pool also provides investigators with a mix of gender and minority subjects, and recruitment is ongoing for underrepresented minorities. At the present time, the NBDS has 320 active normal blood donors enrolled. Use of the Normal Blood Donor Service is considered ��human subjects�� research and each investigator who wants to use the service must submit a protocol to the IRB for review and approval. the reverse transcriptase inhibitor-resistant HIV-1 variant , the protease inhibitor-resistant HIV-1 variant , and the naturally occurring primary ALV-resistant variant CMU08 were obtained from the AIDS Research and Reference Reagent Program. Lab-adapted wild-type NL4.3 and the ALV-resistant
