Currently available prevention strategies offer women limited options and have proven inadequate at stopping the rapid spread of the epidemic. These agents are primarily being evaluated based on their cytotoxicity and ability to inactivate HIV-1.
Surfactants generally act by disrupting the phospholipid bilayer and solubilizing the membrane.
Although all three agents are classified as surfactants, results indicate that the activity or mechanism of action of each is quite different. One approach for investigating the mechanism of action is to identify cells which are altered in their sensitivity to the microbicide. These cells can be either genetic or metabolic variants that exhibit an increased viability in the presence of the microbicide. Initial experiments using a low-dose treatment regimen have identified cells that are altered in their sensitivity to C31G. Future experiments will be aimed at determining the basis of this alteration. Low-dose treatment of HeLa cells with C31G results in an increased cell viability.