DNews 
Published on Mar 17, 2013
How does bee venom kill HIV? Trace has the answer, and some surprising facts about bees' other superpowers.
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"Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown."
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March 7, 2013
By Julia Evangelou Strait
Joshua L. Hood, MD, PhD
Nanoparticles (purple) carrying melittin (green) fuse with HIV (small circles with spiked outer ring), destroying the virus’s protective envelope. Molecular bumpers (small red ovals) prevent the nanoparticles from harming the body’s normal cells, which are much larger in size.
Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed,
researchers at
Washington University School of Medicine
in St. Louis have shown. The finding is an important step toward
developing a vaginal gel that may prevent the spread of HIV, the virus
that causes AIDS.
“Our hope is that in places where HIV is running rampant, people
could use this gel as a preventive measure to stop the initial
infection,” says Joshua L. Hood, MD, PhD, a research instructor in
medicine.
The study appears in the current issue of
Antiviral Therapy.
Bee venom contains a potent toxin called melittin that can poke holes
in the protective envelope that surrounds HIV, and other viruses. Large
amounts of free melittin can cause a lot of damage. Indeed, in addition
to anti-viral therapy, the paper’s senior author, Samuel A. Wickline,
MD, the J. Russell Hornsby Professor of Biomedical Sciences, has shown
melittin-loaded nanoparticles to be effective in killing tumor cells.
The new study shows that melittin loaded onto these nanoparticles
does not harm normal cells. That’s because Hood added protective bumpers
to the nanoparticle surface. When the nanoparticles come into contact
with normal cells, which are much larger in size, the particles simply
bounce off. HIV, on the other hand, is even smaller than the
nanoparticle, so HIV fits between the bumpers and makes contact with the
surface of the nanoparticle, where the bee toxin awaits.
“Melittin on the nanoparticles fuses with the viral envelope,” Hood
says. “The melittin forms little pore-like attack complexes and ruptures
the envelope, stripping it off the virus.”
According to Hood, an advantage of this approach is that the
nanoparticle attacks an essential part of the virus’ structure. In
contrast, 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.
“We are attacking an inherent physical property of HIV,” Hood says.
“Theoretically, 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 the virus.”
Beyond prevention in the form of a vaginal gel, Hood also sees
potential for using nanoparticles with melittin as therapy for existing
HIV infections, especially those that are drug-resistant. The
nanoparticles could be injected intravenously and, in theory, would be
able to clear HIV from the blood stream.
“The basic particle that we are using in these experiments was
developed many years ago as an artificial blood product,” Hood says. “It
didn’t work very well for delivering oxygen, but it circulates safely
in the body and gives us a nice platform that we can adapt to fight
different kinds of infections.”
Since melittin attacks double-layered membranes indiscriminately,
this concept is not limited to HIV. Many viruses, including hepatitis B
and C, rely on the same kind of protective envelope and would be
vulnerable to melittin-loaded nanoparticles.
While this particular paper does not address contraception, Hood says
the gel easily could be adapted to target sperm as well as HIV. But in
some cases people may only want the HIV protection.
“We also are looking at this for couples where only one of the
partners has HIV, and they want to have a baby,” Hood says. “These
particles by themselves are actually very safe for sperm, for the same
reason they are safe for vaginal cells.”
While this work was done in cells in a laboratory environment, Hood
and his colleagues say the nanoparticles are easy to manufacture in
large enough quantities to supply them for future clinical trials.
Hood JL, Jallouck AP, Campbell N, Ratner L, Wickline SA. Cytolytic nanoparticles attenuate HIV-1 infectivity. Antiviral Therapy. Vol. 19: 95 - 103. 2013
This work was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations grant number OPP1024642 ‘Fusogenic nanoparticles for combined anti-HIV/contraception.’
Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of
Barnes-Jewish and
St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by
U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to
BJC HealthCare.
Washington University in St. Louis
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130
Copyright 2010
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Interesting equipment that facilitates the collection of bee venom
How to collect Bee Venom
cjbiotech
Uploaded on Jul 20, 2009
Bee Venom Collector by Chungjin Biotech Co., Ltd.
If you want to know more information, please see our Website.
http://www.biovenom.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF1VC4y-RDI
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