Recently, a team of scientists at the Washington University School of
Medicine, USA, used nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom
to destroy HIV without harming nearby cells.
Explaining the modus operandi, Dr. Samuel A. Wickline, one of the
researchers said; “Bee venom contains a potent toxin called melittin
that can poke holes in the protective envelope that surrounds HIV and
other viruses. It has even shown melittin-loaded nanoparticles to be
effective in killing tumor cells.”
Comparing the bee venom and other anti-HIV drugs, Joshua L. Hood,
another researcher said “most anti-HIV drugs inhibit the virus’s ability
to replicate. But this anti-replication strategy does nothing to stop
initial infection, and some strains of the virus have found ways around
these drugs and reproduce anyway. The bee venom toxin is different
because it attacks an essential part of the virus’ structure. The
melittin forms little pore-like attack complexes and ruptures the
envelope, stripping it off the virus.
“We are attacking an inherent physical property of HIV,” said Hood,
“and there isn’t any way for the virus to adapt to that. The virus has
to have a protective coat, a double-layered membrane that covers it,” so
if the covering is destroyed, the virus is destroyed.
“Because the bee venom toxin has been engineered not to attack
healthy cells, a vaginal gel loaded with bee venom particles, could be
ideal for couples where one partner has HIV and they want to have a
baby,” the report said, adding; “It’s also theoretically possible that
intravenous injections of the nanoparticles would be able to clear HIV
from the blood stream, a virtual miracle for those who have tested
positive.”
Source: Vanguard.
No comments:
Post a Comment
To enter your comments: Type the comment, select a profile in the "Comment as" drop-down box. U may select "Name/URL" if u want ur name to appear then u can now enter ur name and ignore the URL part. Click Continue and lastly, Click publish. But u can pick "anonymous" if you don't want ur name in the comment or choose "Google Account" if you have a gmail account.