This opens a door to better understanding current and upcoming treatments to design more effective methods in the future.

According to a report in Science, the work focuses on the intasome, a key protein that allows viruses to infect human cells.

This special structure is responsible for moving into each human cell and integrating viral genetic material into DNA. A group of drugs called integrase inhibitors (INSTIs) can prevent this invasion.

Researchers have previously used another retrovirus, called the prototype foam virus, to find out how INSTIs and intasomes interact. This group was also the first to define the structure of HIV intasome in 2017. Currently, the new work has created a detailed structure of the intasome while it is blocked by INSTIs.

"The drugs we study are the latest compounds available in the clinic today, as well as some important preclinical molecules. To date, no one knows exactly how they are linked to the HIV complex. How is it, "said senior author Dmitry Lyumkis, as‌sistant professor at the Salk Institute’s Genetic Laboratory. "A better understanding of how drugs work will help us improve them and design new therapeutic compounds."

Analysis shows why these drugs are so effective and why viruses do not adapt to them. The drug fills the entire space occupied by DNA, so if the intasome ever develops a mutation that makes the drug inactive, it will also prevent DNA from attaching, making the new intasome mutated completely useless.

"We and many others have worked towards this goal for decades and it is interesting that we can finally understand how HIV inhibitors work in detail and support the development of new drugs, "said Min Li, co-author of the study.

The team is currently looking at a specific compound called 4d and plans to continue researching how the intasome develops its ability to fight INSTIs.