Nanoparticles rescure HIV drug

clipped from ncsu.edu Nanoparticles Help Combat HIV Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that adding tiny bits of gold to a failed HIV drug rekindle the drug's ability to stop the virus from invading the body's immune system. The addition of gold nanoparticles to a modified version of a drug designed in the 1990s to combat HIV – but discarded due to its harmful side effects – creates a compound that prevents the virus from gaining a cellular foothold The drug, a compound known as TAK-779, was originally found to bind to a specific location on human T-cells, which blocks the HIV virus' entry to the body's immune system. Unfortunately, the portion of the drug's molecule that made binding possible had unpleasant side effects. When that portion of the molecule – an ammonium salt – was removed, the drug lost its binding ability.