INHIBITION OF HIV IN-VITRO BY ANTIVIRAL DRUG-TARGETING USING NANOPARTICLES

Nanoparticles are known to accumulate in the phagocytic cells of the m ononuclear phagocyte system. Therefore, the use of this carrier system for the targeting of antiviral drugs to monocytes/macrophages (MO/MAC ) is an attractive concept in the treatment of diseases involving MO/M AC, e.g. infection with HIV. In this study, the ability of macrophages isolated from peripheral blood of healthy blood donors to phagocytose and metabolize human serum albumin microspheres was investigated by t ransmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, nanoparticles manufactur ed using human serum albumin or polyhexylcyanoacrylate were loaded wit h nucleoside analogues (AZT and ddC) and tested for their ability to p revent HIV infection in MO/MAC cultures. Our results demonstrate the e ffectiveness of this drug-targeting system to one of the major target cells for HIV.