Contact: Julia Evangelou Strait
straitj@wustl.edu
314-286-0141
Washington University School of Medicine

Nanoparticles Loaded with Bee Venom Kill HIV

Caption: 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. 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.

Credit: Joshua L. Hood, MD, PhD

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