Nanotechnology cure for STIs

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) could be treated with new nanotechology which uses DNA similar to the pathogen’s DNA, to silence its effects.

RNAi, interferes (that’s what the ‘i’ is for) with the pathogen’s DNA and ‘sticks’ to it, thus inactivating it. Recent developments in nanotechnology have shown this can be used to treat STIs.

Researchers at Yale created nanoparticles made out of a biodegradable polymer, and used these as a ‘time-release’ vehicle for the RNA which was designed to target a gene found in the mouse reproductive tract.

These particles loaded with the drug agent, were found to have been distributed to the mucosal membranes in the vagina, cervical and uterine regions. These particles could be detected 14 days after administration.

The study will be published in this month’s Nature Materials.

Citation: Nature Materials, advance online publication May 4, 2009.

HIV microbicide hope

In the face of a series of failed HIV vaccine trials the news of a microbicide which has been found to prevent HIV infection has been welcomed by researchers in the field.

Though current trails have only been completed in maquac monkeys, researchers reporting in Natureare hopeful the microbicide will prove effective in humans.

The news comes in the wake of reports that gonorrhea is becoming dangerously anti-biotic resistant, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

This urgently increases the need for effective microbicides and developing biofilms, which can be applied prior to intercourse.