Improved Antioxidant Status Among HIV-Infected Injecting Drug Users on Potent Antiretroviral Therapy:

Identification of Kukoamine A, Zeaxanthin, and Clexane as New Furin Inhibitors

The endogenous protease furin is a key protein in many different diseases, such as cancer and infections. For this reason, a wide range of studies has focused on targeting furin from a therapeutic point of view. Our main objective consisted of identifying new compounds that could enlarge the furin inhibitor arsenal; secondarily, we assayed their adjuvant effect in combination with a known furin inhibitor, CMK, which avoids the SARS-CoV-2 S protein cleavage by means of that inhibition. Virtual screening was carried out to identify potential furin inhibitors. The inhibition of physiological and purified recombinant furin by screening selected compounds, Clexane, and these drugs in combination with CMK was assayed in fluorogenic tests by using a specific furin substrate. The effects of the selected inhibitors from virtual screening on cell viability (293T HEK cell line) were assayed by means of flow cytometry. Through virtual screening, Zeaxanthin and Kukoamine A were selected as the main potential furin inhibitors. In fluorogenic assays, these two compounds and Clexane inhibited both physiological and recombinant furin in a dose-dependent way. In addition, these compounds increased physiological furin inhibition by CMK, showing an adjuvant effect. In conclusion, we identified Kukoamine A, Zeaxanthin, and Clexane as new furin inhibitors. In addition, these drugs were able to increase furin inhibition by CMK, so they could also increase its efficiency when avoiding S protein proteolysis, which is essential for SARS-CoV-2 cell infection.

Anethum sowa Roxb. ex fleming: A review on traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacological and toxicological activities

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Anethum sowa Roxb. ex Fleming (Syn. Peucedanum sowa Roxb. ex Fleming, Family: Apiaceae) is a pharmacologically important as aromatic and medicinal plant. Various parts of this plant are used in traditional medicine systems for carminative, uterine and colic pain, digestion disorder, flatulence in babies, appetite-stimulating agent and used to treat mild flue and cough. The essential oil is used for aromatherapy. It is also used as a spice for food flavouring and culinary preparations in many Asian and European countries.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

This review aims to provide a comprehensive and critical assessment from the reported traditional and pharmaceutical uses and pharmacological activities of the extracts, essential oil and phytoconstituents with emphasis on its therapeutic potential as well as toxicological evaluation of A. sowa.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Online search engines such as SciFinder®, GoogleScholar®, ResearchGate®, Web of Science®, Scopus®, PubMed and additional data from books, proceedings and local prints were searched using relevant keywords and terminologies related to A. sowa for critical analyses.

RESULTS

The literature studies demonstrated that A. sowa possesses several ethnopharmacological activities, including pharmaceutical prescriptions, traditional applications, and spice in food preparations. The phytochemical investigation conducted on crude extracts has been characterized and identified various classes of compounds, including coumarins, anthraquinone, terpenoids, alkaloid, benzodioxoles, phenolics, polyphenols, phenolic and polyphenols, fatty acids, phthalides and carotenoids. The extracts and compounds from the different parts of A. sowa showed diverse in vitro and in vivo biological activities including antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, analgesic and anti-inflammatory, Alzheimer associating neuromodulatory, cytotoxic, anticancer, antidiabetes, insecticidal and larvicidal.

CONCLUSION

A. sowa is a valuable medicinal plant which is especially used in food flavouring and culinary preparations. This review summarized the pertinent information on A. sowa and its traditional and culinary uses, as well as potential pharmacological properties of essential oils, extracts and isolated compounds. The traditional uses of A. sowa are supported by in vitro/vivo pharmacological studies; however, further investigation on A. sowa should be focused on isolation and identification of more active compounds and establish the links between the traditional uses and reported pharmacological activities with active compounds, as well as structure-activity relationship and in vivo mechanistic studies before integrated into the medicine. The toxicological report confirmed its safety. Nonetheless, pharmacokinetic evaluation tests to validate its bioavailability should be encouraged.

Tualang honey ameliorates viral load, CD4 counts and improves quality of life in asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus infected patients

This is the first study to report on the effects of honey in asymptomatic HIV positive subjects in ameliorating CD4 count, viral load (VL) and quality of life (QOL). It is a randomized, controlled, open labelled study, comparing the effects of Tualang honey (TH) administration for six months at three different doses: 20 g (THL), 40 g (THI) or 60 g (THH) daily compared with control (no administered treatment, THC). Only asymptomatic HIV positive subjects (n=95) having CD4 count 250-600 cell/ml, not on antiretrovirals were enrolled. Blood, (together with QOL questionnaires administration) were investigated at baseline, three and six months (CD4 cell count) while VL was determined only at baseline and six months. Significant reductions in CD4 counts in THL and THC groups (p= 0.003 for both) were seen with no significant reductions in the CD4 counts in THI and THH groups (p=0.447 and 0.053 respectively). There was improvement in VL in THC and THI (130% and 32% respectively) and reductions in THL and THH (26% and 8% respectively). Within and between group analyses for VL indicated significant differences between THL and THH compared to THC. In addition, significant improvement in QOL of groups which received TH was noted. TH has the potential to improve the QOL (physical and psychological) and CD4 counts. There was a trend of lower VL in asymptomatic HIV subjects following TH administration thus supporting the possible role of TH in boosting the immune system by improving CD4 counts, causing VL reductions in HIV positive subjects.

Supplementation with antioxidant vitamins prevents oxidative modification of DNA in lymphocytes of HIV-infected patients

There is evidence suggesting that patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are under chronic oxidative stress. In the present study, the level of oxidatively modified bases in lymphocyte DNA and some other parameters of oxidative stress were measured in HIV-infected patients (n = 30), as well as in control groups (10 healthy volunteers and 15 HIV-seronegative injected drug users). Additional experiments were conducted using lymphocyte DNA samples from asymptomatic seropositive, HIV-infected patients who were supplemented with antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E or received placebo. Significant increases in the amount of the modified DNA bases were observed in HIV-infected patients when compared with the control group. The concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) was higher and activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase and catalase) were lower in the group of HIV-infected patients in comparison to the control group. Vitamin supplementation resulted in the significant decrease in the levels of all modified DNA bases when compared to the patients who received placebo. The reduction of TBARS and the restoration of the activity of the enzymes were also observed. Our data suggest that people infected with HIV can benefit from treatment with antioxidant vitamins.