
Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV - somethingnew
http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/25061.aspx
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tokenadult
This submissions is a press release from a university press office. There is a
well established science news cycle

<http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1174>

in which a university press office will hype a preliminary research finding,
and then credulous news organizations will amplify the hype. The incentive to
do this is gaining external funding for research projects and looking good to
prospective students or faculty candidates.

The preliminary finding mentioned in the press release submitted here will
take a lot more clinical research before we can be sure that this is safe and
effective for human use.

<http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html>

That's been the usual experience here on Hacker News--gee-whiz press releases
about breakthroughs submitted a few years ago end up not having any actual
clinical safety or effectiveness as the preliminary findings are followed up
by clinical trials. It's great to continue research on means of killing
viruses or errant cells in human tissues, but it will be a long while, if
ever, before this is a first-line defense against AIDS or any other health
risk.

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waterlesscloud
The article sort of breezes right by the sentence saying it can also work
against tumor cells.

Also, at the end- "This work was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations"

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sageikosa
The basic mechanics of this just read awesomely. Viruses generally "attack"
cells by having protein sheathes with molecular "hooks" that latch onto cell
wall receptors to disrupt the membrane and deliver the viral payload into the
inner workings of the cell.

This technique uses a similar mechanism (molecular latching structures) that
are scaled and aligned to fit into the viruses outer sheathes themselves, then
disrupt the virus structure between host cells (DNA/RNA doesn't last long
without protection). It's like fighting viruses with virus-like binding
mechanisms, except the attack vector isn't self replicating.

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standeven
Full article is available here:
[http://www.intmedpress.com/journals/avt/abstract.cfm?id=2346...](http://www.intmedpress.com/journals/avt/abstract.cfm?id=2346&pid=31)

Abstract is free, full text is £17.50.

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ars
So this is not intended as a cure, and can not function that way.

Rather it's for use as a protective to prevent someone getting infected.

And it might have value as a treatment (but I'm guessing it will be too toxic
inside blood).

~~~
shpxnvz
_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._

~~~
carbocation
But the reservoir for HIV infection, the thing that makes clearing HIV
particles from the blood insufficient to cure it, is the CD4 T-cell. So just
clearing the blood of HIV will not be curative.

~~~
gizmo686
I don't have much biology experience, but if you can keep the blood stream
clear of HIV, wouldn't that prevent new T-cells from getting infected,
allowing the count of healthy T-cells to start growing as the body makes new
ones?

~~~
carbocation
Yes. That's the basis for HAART, the current mainstay of HIV treatment. It's a
good treatment, but not a cure.

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ChuckMcM
This is pretty cool. I can't find Dr. Hood's paper on scholar.google.com yet
so its hard to know exactly what is going on, but the mechanism sounds
plausible.

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StacyC
Is this legit? I have no idea what to make of it.

~~~
rorrr
There are tons of things that would kill HIV - strong acid, fire, lasers, but
it doesn't mean it's good for the rest of the body.

~~~
gregman
True, but bee venom wouldn't be harmful to anyone now would it? :P

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goombastic
I am curious, would nano particles filled with salt or any other substance
also do the same thing? I mean if you can get close enough to the virus, you
could kill it anyway you like.

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hakaaaaak
Nanoparticle safety still unknown:
[http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/nanotechnology-...](http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/nanotechnology-
safety-120829.htm)

I know that is a generic article, but is it safe or not? Is it worth the
chance to put it in lube as mentioned?

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ams6110
Condoms are already an effective preventative for sexual transmission of HIV.
Will a person who's not using condoms be any more likely to use a "vaginal
gel" ?

~~~
marquis
Yes, women who may not have control over condom use.

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thedeepself
the HIV-AIDS hypothesis is a hoax instigated by a cancer fraud. See
Duesberg.com for details.

~~~
homosaur
Buncha articles on Duesberg's bullcrap science.

[http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/data/cohen/cohen.xhtm...](http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/data/cohen/cohen.xhtml)

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ttyrq
Yeah and so does chlorine bleach.

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crusso
These two things do not sound great together:

 _Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom_

 _developing a vaginal gel_

I'm just sayin'...

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ttyrq
HIV will just mutate so the particle can't bind to it anymore and stops
working.

The real solution is better immune system design.

~~~
makomk
Doubt it. As I understand it, the outer envelope is a fairly important
functional part of HIV - it needs to be very similar to normal human cells or
the immune system will destroy the virus.

