CONCANAVALIN A-IMMOBILIZED POLYSTYRENE NANOSPHERES CAPTURE HIV-1 VIRIONS AND GP120 - POTENTIAL APPROACH TOWARDS PREVENTION OF VIRAL TRANSMISSION

To establish an effective tool for the prevention of HIV-1 transmissio n, lectin-immobilized polystyrene nanospheres were synthesized and exa mined for their HIV-1 capture activity. When concanavalin A (Con A) wa s immobilized on the surface of polystyrene nanospheres (400 nm in dia meter) with poly(methacrylic acid) branches and incubated with HIV-1 s uspension at room temperature for 60 min, the nanospheres (Con A-NSs) achieved a >3.3 log and a 2.2 log reduction of viral infectivity in HI V-1 (III, strain) suspension at a concentration of 2 and 0.5 mg/ml, re spectively. Meanwhile, Con A-free nanospheres, which were not immobili zed with Con A, achieved only a 0.29 log reduction at 0.5 mg/ml. Con A -NSs (2 mg/ml) could also reduce the gp120 level of ill, and HE strain s to <7.1% and 5.5% of each control, respectively. The combination of Con A-NS treatment followed by filtration with a microporous membrane efficiently removed virion-free gp120 as well as infectious viral part icles from HIV-1 suspension. Electron microscopic examination demonstr ated that HIV-1 virions were trapped on the surface of Con ANSs. Thus, Con A-NSs can capture HIV-1 virions and gp120 with high affinity, and may have potential as an effective tool for the prevention of HIV-1 t ransmission. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.