Plant Substances as Anti-HIV Agents Selected According to Their Putative Mechanism of Action
- 20 January 2004
- journal article
- review article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Journal of Natural Products
- Vol. 67 (2), 284-293
- https://doi.org/10.1021/np034016p
Abstract
Despite the continuous advances made in antiretroviral combination therapy, AIDS has become the leading cause of death in Africa and the fourth worldwide. Today, many research groups are exploring the biodiversity of the plant kingdom to find new and better anti-HIV drugs with novel mechanisms of action. In this review, plant substances showing a promising anti-HIV activity are discussed according to the viral targets with which they interact. Most of these compounds, however, interfere with early steps in the HIV replication, such as the virus entry steps and the viral enzymes reverse transcriptase and integrase, whereas until now almost no plant compounds have been found to interact with the many other viral targets. Since some plant substances are known to modulate several cellular factors, such as NF-kappa B and TNF-α, which are also involved in the replication of HIV, their role as potential anti-HIV products is also discussed. In conclusion, several plant-derived antiviral agents are good candidates to be further studied for their potential in the systemic therapy and/or prophylaxis of HIV infections, most probably in combination with other anti-HIV drugs.Keywords
This publication has 85 references indexed in Scilit:
- Ribosome‐inactivating proteins from plants: more than RNA N‐glycosidases?The FASEB Journal, 2001
- Pentosan Polysulfate as an Inhibitor of Extracellular HIV-1 TatPublished by Elsevier BV ,2001
- Biochemical Characterization of Casein Kinase II as a Protein Kinase Responsible for Stimulation of HIV-1 Protease in VitroBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2000
- Proteolytic Fragments of Anti-HIV and Anti-tumor Proteins MAP30 and GAP31 Are Biologically ActiveBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 1999
- Potent Inhibition of HIV Type 1 Replication by an Antiinflammatory Alkaloid, Cepharanthine, in Chronically Infected Monocytic CellsAIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 1998
- Oxidative stress and thiol depletion in plasma and peripheral blood lymphocytes from HIV-infected patientsAIDS, 1997
- Inhibitory Effect of Tannic Acid on Human Immunodeficiency Virus Promoter Activity Induced by 12-O-Tetra Decanoylphorbol-13-acetate in Jurkat T-CellsBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 1996
- A Phase II Study of Effect of Addition of Trichosanthin to Zidovudine in Patients with HIV Disease and Failing Antiretroviral AgentsAIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 1994
- N‐Acetylcysteine inhibits apoptosis and decreases viral particles in HIV‐chronically infected U937 cellsFEBS Letters, 1993
- Isolation, purification, and partial characterization of prunellin, an anti-HIV component from aqueous extracts of Prunella vulgarisAntiviral Research, 1989