ORLANDO, Fla. — A discovery by scientists may soon lead to a topical cream that would prevent the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The team of researchers at the University of Central Florida, led by Alexander Cole, has revived a dormant gene found in humans and coaxed it to produce a protein that resists HIV. Cole used aminoglycosides, drugs commonly used to fight bacterial infections, to trigger production of the sleeping protein.
“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. “It could make a huge difference in the fight against HIV.”
Findings from Cole’s three-year investigation are being released today and published in this month’s PLoS Biology, a scientific journal. Cole said more work — including human trials — would be needed to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of a topical cream.
While at the University of California at Los Angeles, Cole noted that similar retrocyclin proteins in primates appeared to prevent HIV infections. The same gene exists in humans but does not produce the protein. Collaborating with researchers at UCLA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and his team at UCF, Cole found that he could get the human gene to produce the proteins and that they appeared to prevent the transmission of HIV.
