Despite developments in producing potent pharmaceuticals that prevent HIV infection, patients’ poor adherence to taking daily medication challenges the drugs’ efficacy in the field. A silk-based, time-release delivery of tenofovir (TFV), an FDA-approved HIV inhibitor, would reduce the need to take daily medications. Silk fibroin has already demonstrated ability to time-release proteins, supporting the possibility that a silk-fibroin film would time-release TFV at an effective concentration for at least three days. To simulate TFV, we are encapsulating a small molecule dye in the silk fibroin films. In eight different trials, two concentrations of Allura Red AC were incorporated into 3 and 6% silk-fibroin films, which were water-vapor annealed to become insoluble and exposed separately to both phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and simulated vaginal fluid (SVF). The concentrations of the dyes released daily were determined by measuring aliquots of the SVF and PBS solutions using standard spectrophotometric methods. Results of the experiment may support the development of silk-based drug delivery systems for small-molecule pharmaceuticals—potentially lowering the rate of HIV infections worldwide.

Sustained release of small molecules from silk films with applications in HIV-inhibition

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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