Improving preclinical models of HIV microbicide efficacy

Improving the large scale purification of the HIV microbicide, griffithsin

BACKGROUND Griffithsin is a broad spectrum antiviral lectin that inhibits viral entry and maturation processes through binding clusters of oligomannose glycans on viral envelope glycoproteins. An efficient, scaleable manufacturing process for griffithsin active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is essential for particularly cost-sensitive products such as griffithsin -based topical microbicides f...

Vaginal bacteria modify HIV tenofovir microbicide efficacy in African women.

Antiretroviral-based strategies for HIV prevention have shown inconsistent results in women. We investigated whether vaginal microbiota modulated tenofovir gel microbicide efficacy in the CAPRISA (Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa) 004 trial. Two major vaginal bacterial community types-one dominated by Lactobacillus (59.2%) and the other where Gardnerella vaginalis predomi...

Preclinical and Clinical Profile of Emmelle (Dextrin-2-Sulfate)—a Potential Anti-HIV Microbicide

Emmelle is a vaginal gel formulation of dextrin 2 sulfate (D2S) being developed by M-L Laboratories PLC, for the potential prevention of sexual transmission of HIV. D2S, a negatively charged sulfated carbohydrate molecule, prevents HIV from entering host cells by binding to positively charged groups on the surface of HIV. The safety, acceptability, and tolerability of increasing doses of D2S ha...

Preclinical evaluation of the HIV-1 fusion inhibitor L'644 as a potential candidate microbicide.

Topical blockade of the gp41 fusogenic protein of HIV-1 is one possible strategy by which microbicides could prevent HIV transmission, working early against infection, by inhibiting viral entry into host cells. In this study, we examined the potential of gp41 fusion inhibitors (FIs) as candidate anti-HIV microbicides. Preclinical evaluation of four FIs, C34, T20, T1249, and L'644, was performed...

Ex vivo comparison of microbicide efficacy for preventing HIV-1 genomic integration in intraepithelial vaginal cells