Gene therapy for HIV-1 infection has been proposed as an alternative to antiretroviral drug regimens. A number of different genetic vectors with antiviral payloads have been utilized to combat HIV-1, including antisense RNA, transdominant proteins, ribozymes, RNA decoys, single chain antibodies, and RNAi (RNA-interference. Antisense RNA targeted to wt-HIV RNA offers a significant advantage over several other genetic antiviral approaches because it is not a protein and thus not immunogenic and because the size of the payload prevents virus escape mutants, such as occurs with the use of RNAi.