HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase: a potential target for marine products

Abstract

HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (HIV-1 RT) is a therapeutic target for the treatment of HIV-positive individuals or those already showing AIDS symptoms. In this perspective, the identifi cation of new inhibitors for this enzyme is of great importance in view of the growing viral resistance to the existing treatments. This resistance has compromised the quality of life of those infected with multidrug-resistant strains, whose treatment options are already limited, putting at risk these individuals lives. The literature has recognized marine organisms and their products as natural sources for the identifi cation of new therapeutic options for different pathologies. In this brief review, we consider the structure of HIV-1 RT and its most common inhibitors, as well as some marine diterpenes originally reported as HIV-1 RT inhibitors to encourage the identifi cation and development of new marine antiviral prototypes.

Antiviral potential of garlic (Allium sativum) and its organosulfur compounds: A systematic update of pre-clinical and clinical data

“…The RT enzyme has become a very significant therapeutic target with a number of specific inhibitors designed to suppress viral growth and infection. The discovery of more RT inhibitors is of great importance, because of increased viral resistance to current treatment ( Miceli et al, 2012 ). Although a number of natural products and traditional medicines have shown activity against a variety of viral infections including retrovirus (such as HIV), only a very few of them are active against the RT ( Kun Silprasit et al, 2011 ).…”

Cytotoxic, Cytostatic and HIV-1 PR Inhibitory Activities of the Soft Coral Litophyton arboreum

“…Antiretroviral therapy (ART) successfully reduces infection and decreases symptoms; but, the emergence of viral drug resistance, due to drug-induced mutations in viral genes, renders treatment ineffective. This underscores an urgent need to develop new anti-HIV drugs [2,3] with fewer side-effects to improve patient compliance.…”

Two New Oxodolastane Diterpenes from the Jamaican Macroalga Canistrocarpus cervicornis

“…They display a wide variety of pharmacological activities including antifouling, antifeedant, antibacterial, antiviral, and cytotoxic properties [4,5,6,7,9]. In the course of our ongoing efforts to discover new biologically active secondary metabolites from brown algae, Canistrocarpus cervicornis , collected from off the coast of Port Royal, Drunken Man’s Cay, Jamaica, was investigated.…”

“…Marine algae of the order Dictyotales, (Phaeophyta) have been found to be distributed in tropical and sub-tropical waters. Chemical investigations have shown the order to be a rich source of monocyclic, bicyclic and tricyclic terpenes such as dolabellane, meroditerpenoid, dolastane and seco-dolastane skeleton types [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Quite a number of diterpenes belonging to the Dictyotaceae family, inhabitants of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, belong to the dolastane and seco-dolastane types.…”