431. THE RETROCYCLIN ANALOGUE RC-101 PREVENTS HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS TYPE 1 INFECTION OF A MODEL HUMAN CERVICOVAGINAL TISSUE CONSTRUCT.

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Cole¹, A.L., Herasimtschuk¹, A., Gupta², P., Waring³, A., Lehrer³, R., and Cole¹, A.M. ¹Department of Molecular Biology & Microbiology, Biomolecular Science Center, Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences at University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, ²Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, and ³Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Immunology, (online edition), 23-Jan-2007.

Summary:
This study by researchers at the University of Central Florida, University of Pittsburgh and UCLA School of Medicine demonstrated that MatTek’s EpiVaginal human vaginal-ectocervical tissue equivalent can be used to test the toxicity and efficacy of potential HIV-1 topical microbicides.

Retrocyclins are cyclic antimicrobial peptides that exhibit potent activity towards a broad range of primary and laboratory-adapted strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in vitro.

This study shows that RC-101, an analogue of retrocyclin, prevented HIV-1 infection in EpiVaginal, an organ-like construct of human cervicovaginal tissue, and retained full activity in the presence of vaginal fluid.

The peptide remained within the cervicovaginal tissues throughout the 9-day incubation period without altering tissue viability, inducing damage or inducing the release of inflammatory cytokines.

Collectively, these data support the potential development of RC-101 as a topical microbicide to prevent HIV-1 infection and transmission.

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EpiVaginal Data Sheet

EpiVaginal Specifications

EpiVaginal Technical References

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Applications: Antimicrobial, HIV/AIDS, Immunological research, Infectious disease research, Inflammation - vaginal, Innate immunity, Microbicides

Keywords: AIDS, Acquired immunodeficieny syndrome, Anti-microbial, Anti-microbial peptide, Antimicrobial, Antimicrobial peptide, Cervicovaginal tissue, Defensin, EpiVaginal, HIV, HIV-1, Human cervicovaginal tissue, Human immunodeficiency virus, Inflammation, Inflammatory, Inflammatory cytokines, Microbicide, Microbicides, RC-101, Retrocyclin, Retrocyclins, Theta defensin, Vagina

Endpoints: HIV-1 copy number, LDH inflammatory reactions, MTT viability

Materials Tested: EpiVaginal, HIV-1 BaL, MTT, PM1, RC-101, TZM-bl

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