Ribonuclease Zymogen as an HIV Chemotherapeutic

Ron Raines of the University of Wisconsin proposes to convert a ribonuclease that rapidly degrades RNA into a zymogen, an enzyme precursor that is activated only when cleaved by an HIV protease. Because this cleaving can only occur within HIV-infected cells, the toxic activity of the ribonuclease will be unleashed only in cells in which HIV is active.