Recent Studies on Natural Products as Anti-HIV Agents

Abstract

The discovery of medicinal agents capable of specifically inhibiting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is urgently needed due to its globally widespread infection. Most of clinically useful anti-HIV agents are nucleosides but their use is limited due to their severe toxicity and emerging drug resistance. More than 50% of world marketed drugs have their origin of the nature. Natural products, of which structural diversity is so broad, are good sources for the effective discovery of anti-HIV agents with decreased toxicity. Over the past decade, substantial progress has been made in research on the natural products for the anti-HIV agents. New natural products that have potent anti-HIV activities with novel structures were reviewed in this article. These compounds, isolated mainly from medicinal plants, in this review have been classified as secondary metabolites such as terpenes, phenolics, and naturally scarce peptides and sugars. Especially, terpenes and phenol substances have gained much interest due to their significant anti-HIV activities along with their structural diversity. Recent studies also showed that several polysaccharides are effective inhibitors of HIV replication. Most of chemotherapeutic targets reviewed in this article are found to be HIV reverse transcriptase (RT).

Biosurfactants and Bioemulsifiers Biomedical and Related Applications – Present Status and Future Potentials

“…More effective inactivation of enveloped viruses, such as retroviruses and herpes viruses, were noted compared to non-enveloped viruses, suggesting that inhibitory action links may be due to physico-chemical interactions with the virus envelope (Vollenbroich et al, 1997a). Antiviral activity of some lipopeptides therefore may take place as a result of the viral lipid envelope and capsid disintegration due to ion channels formation, with consequent loss of the viral proteins involved in virus adsorption and/or penetration (Jung et al, 2000;Seydlová & Svobodová, 2008).…”

θ Defensins Protect Cells from Infection by Herpes Simplex Virus by Inhibiting Viral Adhesion and Entry

“…We recently reported that defensins are miniature lectins that bind gp120 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) with high affinity and inhibit the entry of R5 and X4 isolates of HIV-1. Given its small size (18 residues), minimal cytotoxicity, lack of activity against vaginal lactobacilli, and effectiveness against both HSV-2 and HIV-1, retrocyclin 2 provides an intriguing prototype for future topical microbicide development.The worldwide AIDS epidemic has intensified interest in identifying naturally occurring antiviral molecules (5,29,34,57). Certain rabbit and human ␣ defensins were shown to protect cells from infection by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 almost 20 years ago (17,30), and more recent studies indicated that rabbit ␣ defensin NP-1 blocks HSV infection at a very early stage (46).…”

“…The worldwide AIDS epidemic has intensified interest in identifying naturally occurring antiviral molecules (5,29,34,57). Certain rabbit and human ␣ defensins were shown to protect cells from infection by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 almost 20 years ago (17,30), and more recent studies indicated that rabbit ␣ defensin NP-1 blocks HSV infection at a very early stage (46).…”

Antimicrobial Activity of Condiments

“…Terpenes, phenols and polysaccharides obtained from several medicinal plants could act as inhibitors of HIV replication, the majority of them targeting HIV reverse transcriptase (Jung et al, 2000).…”