Hindawi Publishing Corporation Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology Volume 2008, Article ID 540758, 6 pages doi:10.1155/2008/540758 Research Article Spermicidal Activity of the Safe Natural Antimicrobial Peptide Subtilosin Katia E. Sutyak,1 Robert A. Anderson,2 Sara E. Dover,1, 3 Kenneth A. Feathergill,2 Alla A. Aroutcheva,2, 4 Sebastian Faro,5 and Michael L. Chikindas1, 4 1 Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Department of Food Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08854-8097, USA 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA 3 The Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden 4 Health Promoting Naturals, Inc., Highland Park, NJ 08904, USA 5 The Women’s Hospital of Texas, Houston, TX 77054, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Michael L. Chikindas, tchikindas@aesop.rutgers.edu Received 14 May 2008; Accepted 27 August 2008 Recommended by Jeanne Marrazzo Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition aﬀecting millions of women each year, is primarily caused by the gram-variable organism Gardnerella vaginalis. A number of organisms associated with BV cases have been reported to develop multidrug resistance, leading to the need for alternative therapies. Previously, we reported the antimicrobial peptide subtilosin has proven antimicrobial activity against G. vaginalis, but not against the tested healthy vaginal microbiota of lactobacilli. After conducting tissue sensitivity assays using an ectocervical tissue model, we determined that human cells remained viable after prolonged exposures to partially-puriﬁed subtilosin, indicating the compound is safe for human use. Subtilosin was shown to eliminate the motility and forward progression of human spermatozoa in a dose-dependent manner, and can therefore be considered a general spermicidal agent. These results suggest subtilosin would be a valuable component in topical personal care products aimed at contraception and BV prophylaxis and treatment. Copyright © 2008 Katia E. Sutyak et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. INTRODUCTION Subtilosin is a ribosomally-synthesized cyclopeptide pro- duced by Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 and a recently iden- tiﬁed natural isolate of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens [1, 2]. This protein has a unique structure among bacteriocins [3], and possesses antimicrobial activity against a variety of pathogenic organisms, including Gardnerella vaginalis, Listeria monocytogenes, and Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus) [2]. The ability to inhibit the growth of G. vaginalis is of particular importance as it is one of the primary causative agents for bacterial vaginosis (BV), a common condition found in up to 30% of women in North America [4]. BV is characterized by the replacement of normal vaginal lactobacilli with anaerobic bacteria (e.g., Prevotella, Bacteroides, and Mobiluncus) and mycoplasmas, as well as a several log increase in overall bacterial growth [5–7]. BV is asymptomatic in approximately one half of all cases, but is associated with a wide variety of symptoms and problems ranging from complications with pregnancies (i.e., preterm births, low fetal birth weight) to the development of pelvic inﬂammatory disorder [7–11]. Recent studies have estimated that nearly one in three women in the United States (29.2%) suﬀer from BV, with varying prevalence according to ethnicity and education levels [4]. One of the most troubling aspects of BV infection is the association with an increased risk of several sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, and HIV/AIDS [12–16]. The treatments recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are clindamycin and metronidazole administered either orally or intravaginally [17]. Following these guidelines successfully treats 60% of BV cases, but 20% of these cases return with highly developed antibiotic resistances [18–20]. In such cases, it would be extremely desirable to have an alternative form of treatment that could fully eradicate the infection.