Development of Rosette Nanotubes For HIV-1 Therapy

• Author / Creator

  Sharma, Kumakshi

• The development of therapeutics to target dendritic cells (DCs) for the treatment of diseases is of great importance, as these cells are known to play an important role in antigen processing and presentation in the immune system. Herein, we explore the applications of biocompatible, self-assembled rosette nanotubes (RNTs) as a therapeutic agent to deliver a HIV antigen to the DCs. ELDKWA is linear fragment (epitope) present on the ectodomain of HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein 41 complex, which recognizes the galactoceramide receptors on the DC cell surface and lysine (K) acts as a spacer between the peptide ELDKWA and the RNTs. Our strategy is to functionalize the RNTs on the outer surface with the bio-active peptides ELDKWAK, RGDSK and DRGSK. RGD is a cell-adhesion peptide, which may aid in the attachment of the HIV-1 antigen (ELDKWA) to the DC cell surface and DRG is the scrambled version of RGD. The RNTs with the bioactive peptides were co-mixed with fluorescently-labeled RNTs to study the cell uptake of the RNTs.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • HIV-1 Therapy
  • Peptide synthesis
  • Rosette Nanotubes

• Graduation date

  Fall 2014

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3JH3D980

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.