Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 13:36:36 +0500
From: ghfostel{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghfostel}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com
 
FOR RELEASE                                                Mary Jane Walker
Thursday, April 27, 1995                                     (301) 402-1663

        NIAID Expands Research on Topical Microbicides to Prevent
                             STDs in Women 
  The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
has launched three new research projects on topical microbicides to
prevent and control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs), including AIDS, in women.  
  Topical microbicides are chemicals that a woman can use in her
vagina before sexual intercourse to thwart infectious microbes that
cause diseases such as gonorrhea, syphilis and genital herpes, as
well as chlamydia, hepatitis B and HIV infections.  An STD is acquired
each year by an estimated 12 million Americans--a disproportionate
number of whom are women.  STDs contribute excessively to the
illnesses, deaths and health care costs among women as well as
among newborns, who can be infected before or during birth.   
   "The development of safe, effective, female-controlled topical
microbicides that will block the transmission of HIV and other STD
agents is a global priority and a central focus of NIAID's STD research
program,"  says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of NIAID.     
  NIAID will award a first-year total of $1.5 million to research
teams in Los Angeles, Calif., Chicaco, Ill., and Pittsburgh, Pa.  These
groups will conduct studies necessary to develop new topical
microbicides.
  "The goal of these projects is to develop safe antimicrobial
products that effectively fight a combination of infectious agents,
whether they are viral, bacterial or protozoan,"  says John R. La
Montagne, Ph.D., director of the Division of Microbiology and
Infectious Diseases (DMID), the NIAID division that oversees the new
efforts.  "The multidisciplinary projects will address basic and clinical
research questions that need to be answered before such products
can be produced."  
   The principal investigators of the NIAID-supported teams and
their planned projects are as follows:
  > Robert I. Lehrer, M.D., of the University of California Los
    Angeles, and his group will develop man-made versions of
    small proteins known as protegrins as possible microbicides to
    protect women from HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis,
    genital herpes or trichomonas.  Protegrins occur naturally and
    fight bacteria.     
  > Lawrence R. Stanberry, M.D., Ph.D., of the Children's
    Hospital Research Foundation in Chicago, Ill., will lead a
    team to explore the microbicide potential of chemicals known
    as polysulfated carbohydrates.  In addition, their research
    should yield new information regarding the disease-causing
    mechanisms of herpes simplex virus, chlamydia bacteria and
    HIV.
  > Sharon L. Hillier, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh and
    Magee-Womens Research Institute, and her group will study
    detergents such as nonoxynol-9 (N-9), benzalkonium chloride
    and chlorhexidine--all known spermicides with potential
    microbicidal capability, as well as newly identified naturally
    occurring lipoidal microbicides.  The team will examine the
    effects of these potential microbicides on the pathogens that
    cause AIDS, genital herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia and
    trichomoniasis infections.   
  "The research effort will greatly increase our knowledge of
potential microbicides and will lead to model systems in which to
evaluate future products," says Penny J. Hitchcock, D.Vm., chief of
the DMID Sexually Transmitted Diseases Branch and coordinator of
the NIAID projects.  
  "The currently available mechanical and chemical products
thought to prevent STD/HIV transmission have limitations," she adds. 
"A major drawback of the male condom is that it cannot be used at the
discretion of a woman without her partner's knowledge or consent. 
Existing spermicides have not been clinically evaluated, and issues of
safety and efficacy for STD/HIV prevention remain unresolved.  Many 
situations exist in which personal, social or cultural barriers 
interfere with a woman's ability to successfully negotiate and 
implement their use."  
  According to Dr. Hitchcock, an ideal topical microbicide would not
be inherently spermicidal, but could be formulated with or without
spermicidal activity.  For example, non-contraceptive microbicides
would be useful for women who wish to become pregnant.  "A person's 
contraceptive choices may change over a lifetime, but no matter 
what a person's contraceptive preference is, they need to be
protected from HIV infection and STDs."  
  More than 20 major STD-causing organisms and syndromes are
now recognized, many of which pose serious health problems for
women and their children.  HIV is now the fourth leading cause of
death among women aged 25 to 44 in the United States, and a
leading killer of women worldwide.  Gonorrhea and chlamydial
infections cause pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and ectopic
pregnancy.  Several common STDs adversely affect pregnancy,
resulting in spontaneous abortion, stillbirth and preterm delivery. 
Moreover, genital infections due to human papillomavirus are
associated with cervical cancer, one of the most common cancers in
women throughout the world.  Infections in newborns include syphilis,
herpes, gonococcal conjunctivitis (an eye disease that can lead to
blindness) and chlamydial pneumonia, an infection of the lungs that
can develop into a chronic respiratory disease. 
  NIAID, a component of the National Institutes of Health, supports
investigators and scientific studies at universities, medical schools,
hospitals and research institutions in the United States and abroad
aimed at preventing, diagnosing and treating such illnesses as AIDS
and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and asthma as
well as allergies.  NIH is an agency of the U.S. Public Health Service,
part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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