Microbicide News

2009 News

AFRICA:
"AIDS Virus Prevention Gel Fails in African Trials"
Reuters , (12.14.2009)
The largest trial to date of an experimental vaginal microbicide to prevent HIV infection has concluded with no evidence that the once-promising product works, researchers said on Monday. Earlier results presented in February at the Montreal AIDS conference had suggested PRO 2000 could cut HIV transmission by one-third.

The latest Phase III trial evaluating PRO 2000 involved 9,385 women in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia and took place between September 2005 and September 2009. Participants were asked to apply the gel or placebo up to one hour before sexual intercourse, counseled about sexual risk behaviors, and encouraged to use condoms, which were provided free.

The risk of HIV infection in women using PRO 2000 was not significantly different than the infection risk among placebo users, researchers discovered.

“This result is disheartening, particularly in light of the results of a smaller trial sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health which suggested that PRO 2000 could reduce the risk of HIV infection by 30 percent,” said Sheena McCormack of the UK’s Medical Research Council, which funded the trial with Britain’s Department for International Development.

“Nevertheless, we know this is an important result and it shows clearly the need to undertake trials which are large enough to provide evidence for whether or not a product works,” McCormack said.

“The trial itself was very well designed and undertaken, so we know that the results are definitive,” said Jonathan Weber of the Microbicides Development Program, a non-profit partnership of 16 African and European research institutions that conducted the trials. “It is unfortunate that this microbicide is ineffective at preventing HIV infection, but it’s still vital for us as scientists to continue to look for new ways of preventing HIV.”

 

Microbicide Under Research For HIV Prevention Examined
http://smtp01.kff.org/t/2243/324924/1574/0/
 

Green Tea Ingredient Blocks HIV Infection
Green Tea Molecule EGCG May Be the Missing Ingredient for Vaginal Anti-HIV Gel
WebMD Health News
May 18, 2009 -- Green tea may be the key to effective anti- HIV vaginal gels, new studies suggest.
http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/news/20090518/green-teas-egcg-blocks-hiv-infection?src=RSS_PUBLIC
 

"University of Central Florida Research Yields Link that Could Prevent HIV"
Orlando Sentinel , (04.28.2009) Fernando Quintero
A research team led by Alexander Cole of the University of Central Florida has discovered that using antibiotics to revive a dormant gene produces a protein that resists HIV.

Working with colleagues at the Department of Medicine at the University of California-Los Angeles, Cole noted that similar retrocyclin proteins found in primates appeared to prevent HIV infections in cell cultures. The same gene found in primates exists in humans but does not produce the protein.

The team applied aminoglycosides, drugs used to treat bacterial infections, to vaginal tissues and cervical cells, which prompted those cells and tissues to produce retrocyclins on their own, and these appeared to prevent the transmission of HIV. “That was our ‘Eureka!’ moment,” said Cole.

“There is a good chance the aminoglycosides antibiotics will be used in a topical cream as a way to prevent the transmission of HIV from men to women,” Cole said.

However, Cole cautioned that a peer review, clinical trials, and other work remain. “This is still a promising find,” he said. “And we will be moving forward with this - full steam ahead.”

The three-year study, “Reawakening Retrocyclins: Ancestral Human Defenses Active Against HIV-1,” was published in the online journal Public Library of Science Biology (2009;7(4):e95 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000095).


 

Use of Certain Antibiotics in Topical Cream Could Prevent HIV Transmission, Study Says http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=58250

Protein Grown in Tobacco Plant Could Result in Low-Cost Microbicide, Study Says
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=57793


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