BEE VENOM COULD HEAL AN HIV PATIENCE

There has been a recent discovery by some scientist in the Washington university in U.S that bee venom could prevent and neutralize HIV.

It turns out bees — on top of making delicious honey —  produce an enzyme component, located in their venom, which scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have used to target and kill HIV virus, thus preventing them from infecting cells they come into contact with. The scientists focused on particular toxin called melittin, which can be used to break down cell walls.

Physician-researcher Joshua Hood of Washington University in St. Louis and his colleagues tested the toxin-carrying nanoparticles on HIV in the lab. The particles preferentially locked onto HIV and delivered their cargo: The venom component, a toxin called melittin, poked holes in HIV’s protective protein coat, leading to sharply reduced amounts of virus, the researchers report in the current issue of Antiviral Therapy.

They also tested it in healthy human cells obtained from vaginal walls. Although melittin is known to degrade cell membranes, these vaginal cells were largely unperturbed by the treatment because the nanoparticles holding the melittin come equipped with protective structures attached on their outsides. These act as bumpers to prevent the nanoparticles — and particularly the toxin they carry — from contacting the cell membrane. That allows the nanoparticle to bind to the much smaller virus using a specific lock-and-key structure that fits onto the virus’s protein shell.

 

The study authors tested cells from vaginal walls because the vagina is often where HIV enters the body in women. Hood suggests these early findings could prepare the way for further testing, with the long-term goal being a vaginal gel containing the nanoparticles. If such a product killed HIV on contact, the scientists note, it would be especially valuable in heterosexual couples in which one partner is infected with HIV and the other is not.