Globally, 34 million people are infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1), which is the causative agent of AIDS. HIV-1 viral subtypes have unique geographical distribution patterns and differ in virulence as well as disease outcome suggesting a unique (subtype-specific) pattern of host cell manipulations. As an intracellular pathogen, HIV-1 relies heavily on discrete control of host gene expression to hijack host cellular machinery to complete its life cycle. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous non-coding RNA molecules that regulate host gene expression as part of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway by binding to complementary sequences on mRNA molecules. HIV-1 has been shown to actively manipulate the expression profile of the host miRNome (all known miRNAs) during infection.
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