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How Boosted INVIRASE Works
[ The Life Cycle of HIV and How Combination Therapy Targets the Virus ] [ Your Long-term Treatment Goals ] [ INVIRASE in Combination Therapy With Other HIV Treatment ]
INVIRASE (saquinavir mesylate) is a protease inhibitors . Protease inhibitors (PIs) are powerful HIV treatment used in combination therapy to prevent HIV from making new copies of itself inside your CD4 cells ( T cells ). Protease inhibitors stop (“inhibit”) the protease enzyme that cuts long viral protein chains into smaller, individual proteins that can be made into new HIV. PIs always work in combination with other HIV meds. This combination of different meds is why HIV treatment is also called “combination therapy.”
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The Life Cycle of HIV and How Combination Therapy Targets the Virus
1. HIV attaches to and enters the T cell (also known as the CD4 cell). The CD4 cell is an important part of the immune system, the body’s defense against infections and diseases. Fusion Inhibitors (FIs) work here.
2. HIV uses the reverse transcriptase enzyme to transcribe (“rewrite,” copy or transfer) the single-stranded viral RNA into double-stranded DNA that the CD4 cell can “read.” Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors ( NRTIs) and/or (Non-nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs) work here.
3. Viral DNA reprograms the CD4 cell to make copies of the virus. The CD4 cell now functions like an HIV factory instead of a CD4 cell.
4. The protease enzyme cuts longer viral pieces into smaller parts that can be made into new HIV that leaves the dying, infected cell and then can infect other healthy CD4 cells. PIs work here to block this step and prevent new HIV from being made.
If the protease enzyme acts like a pair of scissors to cut long viral protein chains into smaller parts for new HIV, then you can think of protease inhibitors like INVIRASE as meds that target the enzyme and “gum up” these “scissors.” Once INVIRASE targets this enzyme and prevents it from cutting the chains into new HIV parts, the virus can’t be completed and can’t go after other healthy CD4 cells.
Boosted INVIRASE in combination with other HIV treatment helps to “shut down” the virus life cycle—shutting down the HIV factory that has taken over the CD4 cell.
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Your Long-term Treatment Goals
Getting control of HIV is first about getting control of your viral load and strengthening your immune system. Your viral load is the amount of HIV in your blood, measured in copies/mL (less than a teaspoon). The primary goal of combination therapy for both treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced people is an undetectable viral load.
Equally important is an increase in CD4 cells (T cells)—something that should happen as your viral load decreases. The more CD4 cells (per cubic millimeter), the more able your immune system is to protect you from opportunistic illnesses and infections.
No doubt an undetectable viral load has become the “holy grail,” the ultimate goal of HIV treatment. But tests and numbers aren’t everything. How you feel, how you are able to manage your side effects and your quality of life are vital parts of your treatment decisions—and can also impact you and your doctor’s decision to stay on a treatment or to switch to a med that may be more tolerable and less toxic.
Finally, considering your personal risk for other health issues, including the health of your heart, is beginning to influence HIV treatment plans now that people are living longer. And that makes sense—because you are living with HIV.
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INVIRASE in Combination Therapy With Other HIV Treatment
- INVIRASE is always boosted with a low dose of ritonavir, another PI that is prescribed separately. Boosting INVIRASE increases drug levels in the bloodstream to target HIV more powerfully
- All HIV meds, including INVIRASE, must be used in combination
- HIV meds from different classes target the virus in different ways at different stages of the viral replication cycle (the cycle of HIV making copies of itself)
- Targeting the virus in different ways using a combination of HIV meds increases the chances of slowing HIV and protecting healthy CD4 cells
- In general, the less virus you have in your bloodstream (as measured by a viral load test), the more likely you are to have a healthier immune system and delay the onset of HIV-related symptoms or other illnesses
- The goal of HIV treatment is to get a viral load to undetectable (below the level of detection in the bloodstream) and strengthen the immune system by increasing T cells
This information does not include everything you may need to know about HIV and does not take the place of talking with your healthcare provider.
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