Sophorolipids, Microbial Glycolipids with Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Sperm-Immobilizing Activities

Abstract

The increased incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS disease in women aged 15 to 49 years has identified the urgent need for a female-controlled, efficacious, and safe vaginal topical microbicide. To meet this challenge, sophorolipid (SL) produced by Candida bombicola and its structural analogs have been studied in this report for their spermicidal, anti-HIV, and cytotoxic activities. The sophorolipid diacetate ethyl ester derivative is the most potent spermicidal and virucidal agent of the series of SLs studied. Its virucidal activity against HIV and sperm-immobilizing activity against human semen are similar to those of nonoxynol-9. However, it also induced enough vaginal cell toxicity to raise concerns about its applicability for long-term microbicidal contraception. Its structure-activity relationship has been established for creating new analogs with less cytotoxicity and higher activity.

Production, characterization and anticancer activity of <em>Candida bombicola</em> sophorolipids by means of solid state fermentation of sunflower oil cake and soybean oil

“…Also, SLs have attracted more attention since they were found to have good anti-microbial, antiinflammatory, and even anti-HIV activities, which will broaden their applications in the pharmaceutical sector (Shah et al, 2005;Yoo et al, 2005;Napolitano 2006). Natural SL molecules and their specific derivatives have recently been reported to have anticancer effects against liver, leukemia, pancreatic, and esophageal cancer cells (Chen et al, 2006b;Fu et al, 2008, Shao et al, 2012.…”

Production of glucolipids and specialty fatty acids from sophorolipids by Penicillium decumbens naringinase: Optimization and kinetics

“…However, to date only rhamnolipids from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and sophorolipids from Candida bombicola are produced by fermentation on economically competitive scales. In order to broaden the application field or to enhance specific properties of these high-yield biosurfactants, one can introduce enzymatic modifications which for example lead to the incorporation of new functional groups giving the biosurfactant better performances [4]. The use of enzymes in surfactant production is not new [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] influence on the antibacterial activity of the glycolipid [12], interesting properties of these new glycolipids can be expected such as better biological activity and/or reduced cytotoxicity.…”

Adjuvant Antibiotic Activity of Acidic Sophorolipids with Potential for Facilitating Wound Healing

“…The antimicrobial effects of SLs are dependent on the SL structure and class of bacteria examined, yet SLs are predominantly produced and used as mixtures, with very few studies examining the effects of SL samples containing well-defined and purified single congeners. In addition, sophorolipids have virucidal and antibiotic adjuvant characteristics (6,7) and may have potential applications in infection, wound healing, or antiinflammatory contexts (8,19). However, the widely variable methods of production, extraction, and purification, coupled with the diversity of possible SL structures and a lack of sufficient characterization of preparations, make comparison between data from in vitro and in vivo studies difficult to interpret.…”

“…In contrast, biosurfactants are a diverse group of surfactants produced by certain species of yeast or bacteria, which represent a more sustainable and perceived environmentally friendly alternative to traditional surfactants. There is increasing evidence that microbial biosurfactants, as well as possessing industrially valuable properties of detergency, emulsification, and foaming, also have significant bioactivities, including inhibitory or antibacterial adjuvant activities against various microorganisms (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) and specific anticancer activity (19).…”