Sulfated fucan from marine alga inhibits HeLa cells infection by HTLV-1 free particles: semi-quantitative analysis

Abstract

A sulfated fucan from Laminaria abyssalis marine alga prevented the interaction of HTLV-1 particles, purified from the MT-2 cell line, with HeLa cells. The infection obtained using a concentrated virus suspension was detected only by amplification of the newly synthesized HTLV-1 proviral cDNA by the nestedpolymerase chain reaction (PCR). The sulfated polysaccharide was not toxic to the cells at a concentration of 100 µg/mL and prevented infection by the viral particles when added to the cell monolayers. The proviral cDNA was only detected when the sulfated polysaccharide was added to the cells three hours post-infection, indicating that the inhibitory activity occurred in the initial stages of virus-cell interaction. Our results demonstrate, for the first time, the ability of a sulfated fucan from marine algae to inhibit virus transmission through free virus particles.

The Mediterranean deep-water kelp Laminaria rodriguezii is an endangered species in the Adriatic Sea

“…In contrast to their well-studied relatives in shallow waters, deep-water kelp taxa remain poorly known in key aspects of their biology (Bartsch et al 2008 ). Laminaria abyssalis is the best studied deep-water kelp species (Yoneshigue-Valentin 1990 ; Braga and Yoneshigue-Valentin 1996 ; Rodrigues et al 2000 , 2002 ; Yoneshigue-Valentin et al 2003 ; Romanos et al 2011 ; Marins et al 2012 ). In contrast, only the original description (Petrov et al 1973 ) exists for L. philippinensis .…”

Fucanomics and Galactanomics: Marine Distribution, Medicinal Impact, Conceptions, and Challenges

“…Infections and parasitic diseases are the second largest cause of death in humans, accounting for around one-fourth of the total. SFs and SGs have shown effects in preventing infections of viral origin [ 21 , 65 , 66 ], and bacterial origin, including those caused by Staphylococcus aureus [ 67 ]. The main mechanisms behind the antiviral activity of the reported algal SFs have been speculated to be through the binding properties of the sulfated glycans to positive regions of the viral particles during the adsorption period [ 21 , 65 , 66 ].…”

“…It is worth highlighting that the majority of the work undertaken so far to study the biomedical properties of marine SFs and SGs (section 1.4), has used molecules extracted from algae with a high degree of heterogeneity [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ]. Although algal molecules may reach great levels of effectiveness in certain assays, their structure-function correlations are more difficult to determine.…”