Retroviral integration: A critical step in viral life cycle suitable for drug intervention

retroviral integration is an essential stage in the life cycle of retroviruses. viruses need to insert their dna into the chromosomal dna of the host cells. retroviral integration is a complex process which involves viral and host proteins and requires the movement of the retroviral dna from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. the viral integrase is a key enzyme in this process that catalyzes two reactions: 3′ processing of viral dna that take place in the cytoplasm following reverse transcription and the strand transfer that inserts viral dna in a host cell chromosome. development of a successful treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) infection using the strand transfer inhibitor, raltegravir, has demonstrated that retroviral integration is a suitable step for drug intervention. different types of inhibitors targeting hiv integrase or any of the other components of the retroviral integration process are currently being designed or developed. this work contains a summary of the retroviral integration process as well as, many of the latest advances in this topic which were exposed at the recently held ivth international meeting on retroviral integration.