  
Modified plant derivative blocks HIV maturation
Last Updated: 2001-04-27 18:15:04 EDT (Reuters Health)
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) - A chemically modified betulinic acid derivative of the plant Syzigium claviflorum, inhibits HIV by blocking viral maturation, according to a report in the April issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
The emergence of multidrug-resistant HIV and the inability to eliminate HIV from infected individuals demands the development of additional antiretroviral drugs that target different phases of viral replication, the authors assert.
Dr. Hideki Nakashima from Kagoshima University Dental School in Kagoshima, Japan and colleagues investigated the anti-HIV properties of a betulinic acid derivative designated YK-FH312.
In coculture assays, YK-FH312 inhibited HIV-induced cytopathic effects and p24 expression at mcg/mL concentrations, the authors report, but did not inhibit syncytium formation at levels comparable to those of AZT- or ritonavir-treated cells.
YK-FH312, like ritonavir (but unlike AZT), completely suppressed the release of infectious HIV from cells, the researchers note, apparently by interfering with viral maturation. Indeed, the report indicates, initial experiments suggest that YK-FH312 inhibits viral assembly and/or budding of the virions.
"The results presented in this study therefore suggest that YK-FH312 interferes with viral maturation and that YK-FH312 is noteworthy as a new anti-HIV reagent with a novel mechanism of action," the authors conclude.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2001;45:1225-1230.
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