Inhibition of HIV replication by sense and antisense Rev response elements in HIV-based retroviral vectors

The life cycle of HIV-1 is critically dependent on the transregulatory proteins Tat and Rev. Tat increases the production of HIV-specific mRNAs by direct binding to the transactivation response element, while Rev is required for the cytoplasmic expression of full-length mRNAs encoding Gag, Pol and Env structural proteins.