The current therapeutic strategy for patients who have been infected with HIV is a multidrug regimen known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAA). One type of drug used in this therapy is a nucleoside/ nucleotide analog, such as didanosine. Which of the following best describes the mechanism of action of these drugs
The nucleoside/nucleotide analogs like azidothymidine (AZT) and didanosine are incorporated into the DNA synthesized by HIV reverse transcriptase. Because they do not have a 3'-hydroxyl group, they cannot form a bond with the next nucleotide and the chain is terminated. Host cell DNA synthesis is not affected because of the nuclear DNA repair mechanisms. Ref:- Lippincott textbook of Biochemistry