Safe sex may become even safer in the coming years due to a recent discovery at the UW-Madison Medical Science Center.
While looking for a way to get anti-viral proteins into cells to block the herpes simplex virus and HIV, Curtis Brandt, professor in UW-Madison's Medical School, and a team of researchers found a new agent for spermicide to replace the current substance used in condoms and other safe-sex materials.
The current agent in spermicide, non-oxynol-9, is a mild detergent to the body and has been found to cause damage to the slimy mucus surface of the cell or to trigger an inflammatory response.
However, in some cases, without the use of a condom, non-oxynol-9 increases the chance of contracting HIV.
'Women using creams with non-oxynol-9 had a higher rate of HIV infection,' Brandt said.
This led researchers to look for an alternative spermicide that would successfully block the contraction of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Initially funded to help develop a way to stop the spread of a biological attack, Brandt and a team of researchers in the UW-Madison Medical Sciences Center were looking for a way to get an anti-viral protein into the cell to block the spread of viruses. To do this, Brandt used transmembrane peptides, which are chains of amino acids that can penetrate tiny holes in a cell's membrane enclosure.
While trying to get the anti-viral protein into the cell with the aid of the transmembrane protein, Brandt got a surprise.
'What we found was the transit peptides were anti-viral themselves,' Brandt said.
The researchers also found that these transporter peptides are able to successfully block the herpes virus. So far, four peptides have been thoroughly tested and found to have anti-viral properties, which block the viruses from entering the cell during the entry process. More testing is underway to see if the transporter peptides can block HIV, and the human papa Loma virus, which non-oxynol-9 does not protect against.
Recently given a $3.5 million grant by the National Institution of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, UW-Madison researchers plan to incorporate these peptides into the spermicide that goes on condoms and in other products.
This new spermicide does not prevent pregnancy so a condom should still be used. But with the use of a condom, the new spermicide will decrease the chances of contracting long-term sexually transmitted diseases.
While this finding is not a new form of birth control, it may be an added protection to safe sex for people everywhere. Brandt is hopeful that within several years this new discovery will reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases worldwide.
