Summary:

In view of the increasing numbers of new HIV infections each year, particularly in the developing world, there is an urgent need for additional measures to prevent the transmission of HIV infection. This project aims to develop new microbicide compounds to prevent HIV infection using technologies such as nanobodies, anticalins, peptide libraries and glyconanoparticles in addition to more traditional approaches. Following a rigorous selection procedure, the most promising candidates will be tested in a phase I clinical trial.

Background:

While condom use remains the most effective protection against sexual transmission of HIV, such protection requires partner consent. It is clear that in many areas of the world women are not empowered to negotiate condom use. Indeed the continual spread of the HIV-1 epidemic is testament to the lack of safe sex practices. The urgent need for novel strategies to block HIV-1 transmission in the absence of a protective vaccine has been the driving force behind the development of mucosal microbicides.

Aim:

To develop new topical microbicides that block entry of HIV at mucosal sites and, in achieving this, also establish a pipeline of candidate microbicides while taking selected microbicides through the phase I clinical trial.

Expected results:

This project is developing new microbicides using some novel approaches and technologies not previously applied to microbicide development. It is expected that the project will discover a range of new microbicides based on these technologies and that these microbicides will show these microbicides, methods for large-scale production will be investigated as will optimisation of mucosal formulations for delivery to the vagina. Finally the project will deliver phase I clinical testing of the most promising compounds and/or combinations.

Potential applications:

Ultimately, these microbicides may be used to prevent HIV infection in the developing world. This will require phase II and III clinical trials and additional support from industry and/or other interested parties.

Coordinators:

Partners:

Nº	Principal Scientific Participants	Official Address	Other Information
3	Thomas Lehner	Mucosal Immunology Unit GKT Dental Institute Guy’s Hospital UK-SE1 9RT London United Kingdom	Tel: +44 20 7188 3065 Fax: +44 20 7188 4375 E-mail: Thomas.Lehner@kcl.ac.uk Website: http://www.kcl.ac.uk
4	Julian Ma	St George’s Hospital Medical School Department of Infectious Disease Cranmer Terrace UK-SW17 0RE London United Kingdom	Tel: +44 20 8725 5818 Fax: +44 20 7188 4375 E-mail: jma@sghms.ac.uk Website: www.sghms.ac.uk
5	Jan Balzarini and Dominique Schols	Rega Institute for Medical Research Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Minderbroedersstraat 10 BE-3000 Leuven Belgium	Tel: +32 16 337352/73 Fax: +32 16 337340 E-mail: jan.balzarini@rega.kuleuven.ac.be Dominique.schols@rega.kuleuven.ac.be Website: http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/rega
6	Guy Van den Mooter	Laboratorium voor Farmacotechnologie en Biofarmacie Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Campus Gasthuisberg O+N Herestraat 49 BE-3000 Leuven Belgium	Tel: +32 16 345829 Fax: +32 16 345996 E-mail: guy.vandenmooter@pharm.kuleuven.ac.be Website: http://www.farm.kuleuven.ac.be/pharbio
7	Morgane Bomsel	Institut Cochin Université René Descartes – Paris V 22 rue Mechain FR-75014 Paris France	Tel: +33 1 40 51 64 97 Fax: +33 1 40 51 64 54 E-mail: Bomsel@cochin.inserm.fr Website: http://www.cochin.inserm.fr
8	Laurent Bélec	Institut des Cordeliers 15 rue de l’Ecole de Médecine FR-75006 Paris France	Tel: +33 1 56 09 39 59 Fax: +33 1 56 09 24 47 E-mail: laurent.belec@u430.bhdc.jussieu.fr Website: http://www.inserm.fr
9	Colin Campion	Carbohydrate Synthesis Ltd Building 15 North Culham Estate Culham Science Centre Abingdon UK-OX14 3GY Oxfordshire United Kingdom	Tel: +44 1865 407767 Fax: +44 1865 407985 E-mail: ccampion@lineone.net Website: http://www.carbohydratesynthesis.com
10	Mario Clerici	Department of Immunology Milan University Medical School Via GB Grassi 74 IT-20157 Milan Italy	Tel: +39 02 5031 9679 Fax: +39 02 5031 9677 E-mail: mario.clerici@unimi.it Website: http://www.unimi.it
11	Hans de Haard	Ablynx N.V. Technologiepark 4 BE-9052 Zwijnaarde Belgium	Tel: +32 9 261 0631 Fax: +32 9 261 0627 E-mail: hans.dehaard@ablynx.com Website: http://www.ablynx.com
12	Stefano Vella	Director, Department of Drug Research and Evaluation Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) Viale Regina Elena 299 IT-00161 Rome Italy	Tel: +39 06 4990 6016 (direct) / +39 06 4990 6015 (secretariat) Fax: +39 06 4990 3661 (direct) / +39 06 4990 2012 (secretariat) Website: http://www.iss.it
13	Charles Lacey	The University of York Heslington UK-YO10 5DD York United Kingdom	Tel: +44 1904 725425 Fax: +44 1904 642116 E-mail: charles.lacey@hyms.ac.uk Website: http://www.york.ac.uk
14	Quentin Sattentau	Sir William Dunn School of Pathology University of Oxford South Parks Road UK-OX1 3RE Oxford United Kingdom	Tel: +44 1865 275511 Fax: +44 1865 275515 E-mail: quentin.sattentau@pathology.ox.ac.uk Website: http://www.ox.ac.uk
15	Claudio Vita	Protein Engineering and Research Department Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique Saclay FR-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette France	Tel: +33 1 69 08 71 33 Fax: +33 1 69 08 90 71 E-mail: vita@dsvidf.cea.fr Website: http://www.cea.fr
16	Roger Le Grand	Service de Neurovirolgie Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique 18 route du Panorama FR-92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses Cedex France	Tel: +33 1 46 54 73 74 Fax: +33 1 46 54 77 26 E-mail: legrand@dsvidf.cea.fr Website: http://www.cea.fr
17	Elisa Vicenzi and Paolo Lusso	AIDS Immunopathogenesis Unit Fondazione Centro San Raffaele del Monte Tabor Via Olgettina n. 58 IT-20132 Milan Italy	Tel: +39 02 2643 4908 Fax: +39 02 2643 4905 E-mail: vicenzi.elisa@hsr.it
18	Karl Malcolm	School of Pharmacy The Queen’s University Belfast 97 Lisburn Road UK-BT9 7BL Belfast United Kingdom	Tel: +44 28 9097 2319 Fax: +44 28 9024 7794 E-mail: k.malcolm@qub.ac.uk Website: http://www.qub.ac.uk
19	Soledad Penades	Instituto de Investigaciones Quimicas Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas Americo Vespucio s/n ES-41094 Seville Spain	Tel: +34 95 4489561 Fax: +34 95 4460565 E-mail: penades@cica.es Website: http://www.csic.es
20	Rob Meloen	Pepscan Systems BV Edelhertweg 15 NL-8219 PH Lelystad The Netherlands	Tel: +31 320 237200 Fax: +31 320 238120 E-mail: r.h.meloen@pepscan.nl Website: http://www.pepscan.nl
21	Pasqua Oreste	Glycores 2000 s.r.l. Via Mac Mahon 43 IT-20155 Milan Italy	Tel: +39 02 3310 1771 Fax: +39 02 3453 4495 E-mail: oreste@glycores.it Website: http://www.glycores.it
22	Gianni Pozzi	Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology Dipartmento di Biologia Molecolare Università di Siena Policlinico Le Scotte 1S Viale Bracci IT-53100 Siena Italy	Tel: +39 0577 233430 Fax: +39 0577 233334 E-mail: Pozzi@unisi.it Website: http://www.unisi.it
23	Arne Skerra	Lehrstuhl f. Biologische Chemie Technische Universität München DE-85350 Freising-Weihenstephan Germany	Tel: +49 8161 71 4351 Fax: +49 8161 71 4352 E-mail: skerra@wzw.tum.de Website: http://www.tu-muenchen.de
24	Pieter Van der Bijl	Faculty of Health Sciences University of Stellenbosch Private Bag 19063 Tygerberg 7505 South Africa	Tel: +27 21 9389331 Fax: +27 21 9326958 E-mail: pvdb@sun.ac.za Website: http://www.sun.ac.za
25	Guido Vanham and Vicky Jespers	Prince Leopold Institute for Tropical Medicine Nationalestraat 155 BE-2000 Antwerp 1 Belgium	Tel: +32 3 247 6228 Fax: +32 3 247 6231 E-mail: gvanham@itg.be vjespers@itg.be Website: http://www.itg.be
26	Pierre Roques and Pierre Rouquet	Department de Virologie Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville BP769 Franceville Gabon	Tel: +241 6770 92/62 Fax: +241 6772 95 E-mail: roques@cirmf.sci.ga rouquet@cirmf.sci.ga
27	Stephan Grzesiek	Department of Structural Biology Biozentrum University of Basel Klingelbergstr 70 CH-4056 Basel Switzerland	Tel: +41 61 267 2100 Fax: +41 61 267 2109 Email: stephan.grzesiek@unibas.ch Website: http://www.biozentrum.unibas.ch
28	Robin Weiss	Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences University College London 46 Cleveland Street UK-W1T 4JF London United Kingdom	Tel: +44 20 7679 9554 Fax: +44 20 7679 9555 E-mail: r.weiss@ucl.ac.uk Website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk
29	Jens van Roey	Tibotec BVBA BE- 2800 Mechelen Belgium	Tel: +32 15 401231 Fax: +32 15 293162 E-mail: jvroey@tibbe.jnj.com
30	Ian Jones	School of Animal and Microbial Sciences University of Reading Whiteknights UK-RG6 6AH Reading United Kingdom	Tel: +44 118 378 8902 Fax: +44 118 378 8902 E-mail: i.m.jones@reading.ac.uk Website: http://www.rdg.ac.uk