A synthetic prophylactic gel created at KTH Royal Institute of Technology to prevent the spread of HIV and herpes is based on cow mucus. In laboratory experiments, the lubricating gel showed to be 70% efficient against HIV and 80% effective against herpes.
In a lab, various different cell types were used for the viral prophylactic experiments. The outcomes were published today in the journal of science known as Advanced Science.
The encouraging outcomes, according to KTH biomaterials researcher Hongji Yan, give reason for optimism that the gel will be able to stop worrying trends in the spread of STDs once it is commercially available.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1 million STIs are acquired daily worldwide, and the majority of these are asymptomatic. According to UNAIDS, teenage girls and young women are twice as likely to catch HIV as males are, making AIDS, the disease brought on by HIV, a serious global epidemic.
The main component of mucus produced by the human body, mucin, is used to make the lubricant, while providers offer the bovine variety in refined form for the production of hydrogels.
According to Hongji, the synthetic gel’s ability to effectively treat HIV and herpes without the possibility of adverse effects or the emergence of resistance that comes with existing antiviral medications is due to the mucin molecules’ inherent complexity. Having a polymer created from scratch would make it challenging to do such activities, he claims.
Virus particles can adhere to and become trapped in mucin molecules in our body, where they are then expelled by active mucus turnover. The self-healing ability of the natural gel, according to Hongji, is a crucial component of the lubricity and anti-infection prophylaxis of mucus.
The gel, according to Hongji, may enable more people to exert more control over their sexual wellness. When condom protection is not an option, it might provide protection; it might even serve as a fallback in the event that a condom fails or is used improperly. Both male-to-male and female-to-male sex could use it.
According to him, the mucins in the artificial gel also aid in reducing immune cell activation. This is significant because immune cells that have been stimulated promote HIV replication.
The project is a collective effort of laboratories at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Karolinska Institutet.
Analysis of the lubricating properties of the gel was performed by first author Martin Kretschmer at TUM. Viral tests were performed by first author Rafael Ceña-Diez at Karolinska Institutet.
