4 Responses to “Fullerenes versus AIDS”

1. MarkGubrud Says:
   December 26th, 2000 at 12:45 PM

   nanomedicine?

   A November article in the Houston Chronicle gives more details [search on "c-sixty" at google.com and look for the Houston Chronicle story; select the cached copy]:

   Buckyballs' greatest promise now may be for AIDS. It turns out a modified buckyball fits into a cylindrical space in the HIV protease enzyme — researchers compare it with a catcher's mitt — that breaks down proteins and disrupts the virus's ability to reproduce. Stick the buckyball in the space and the HIV enzyme's action is blocked, causing it to die.

   The protease-inhibitor cocktails that have revolutionized AIDS treatment in recent years perform the same action, but the anti-HIV buckyballs have shown no toxic effects in animal tests, even in high quantities. And they seem to work even against the resistant, mutated strains of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

   Buckyballs also appear to be a potential tool in the fight against cancer because they can carry light-activated drugs that destroy cancer cells with minimal effect on surrounding normal tissue — injected into the patient, they are excreted by normal cells and retained by diseased cells such as tumors. Able to penetrate deep into the body, buckyball drugs thus promise to help kill tumors with minimal invasiveness and minimal effect on normal tissue.

   Another buckyball-delivered agent may provide treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease, the incurable disease amyotropic lateral sclerosis, and other degenerative problems.

   In experiments with mice, Laura Dugan, a physician at Washington University's School of Medicine in St. Louis, found that potent antioxidant properties in buckyballs shielded nerve cells from the damaging effects of chemicals known as free radicals. The buckyballs proved hundreds of times more powerful than vitamin E in fighting free radicals, which have been linked to degenerative disease.

   Gee, who would have guessed that graphene spheres would have so many miraculous medicinal properties?

   Well, maybe it's a bit too soon to tell; according to the article, the company "hopes to begin human testing in the next year." I read somewhere that pharmaceutical companies typically screen about 10,000 compounds for every new drug that makes it to market. It's not unreasonable to hope that the fullerenes or their functionalized derivatives might prove medically useful, but we'll have to wait and see. This is really old-fashioned drug chemistry we're talking about, rather than what we would call nanotechnology.

2. RobertBradbury Says:
   January 1st, 2001 at 2:26 AM

   Reality check necessary

   I would agree with the comments that this is more standard drug development rather than nanotechnology per se.

   I would also be very concerned with a company that is publishing its results in newspapers rather than peer-reviewed journals.

   The articles seem to suggest their products function as protease inhibitors. That implies that their drug candidates function to block the HIV derived enzymes that cleave HIV precursor multi-proteins into individual proteins that perform required functions for HIV replication. It is my impression of chemical structures that protein cleavage blocking agents would be much smaller than the size of typical fullerenes.

   As no mechanism is proposed for the activity of these drug candidates, nor peer reviewed verification of the results is cited, I am inclined to be highly dubious of the claims.

3. Dan Durett Says:
   November 30th, 2005 at 3:21 PM

   This discussion of “Fullerenes versus AIDS” is particularly interesting given the continued advance of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. I am expecially interested in the current state of research since this article appeared. My speficic focus is on assisting emerging organizations as well as community-based organizations in Africa to develop non-traditional approaches to this issues as well as establishing non-traditional parternships that can strengthen the hopes of that affected and infected. That “It’s not unreasonable to hope that the fullerenes or their functionalized derivatives might prove medically useful,…” compeles me to submit this message. Thanks for reading and replying!

4. Arif surani Says:
   December 6th, 2005 at 9:31 PM

   this is very good research but still more claws and deffect are observed.the bulky ball is good but it doesnot have potential to cure AIDS ,the replication will still continue

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