Natural Products and HIV/AIDS

Abstract

The study of natural products in biomedical research is not a modern concept. Many of the most successful medical therapeutics are derived from natural products, including those studied in the field of HIV/AIDS. Biomedical research has a rich history of discovery based on screens of medicinal herbs and traditional medicine practices. Compounds derived from natural products, which repress HIV and those that activate latent HIV, have been reported. It is important to remember the tradition in medical research to derive therapies based on these natural products and to overcome the negative perception of natural products as an "alternative medicine."

Identification of Novel HIV-1 Latency-Reversing Agents from a Library of Marine Natural Products

“…Natural products obtained from plant and marine sources are a rich source of diverse chemical compounds, including HIV-1 inhibitors and novel LRAs [ 16 , 17 ]. Moreover, screens for novel LRAs from natural product libraries often result in “hit” rates of 1.0% or more [ 18 , 19 ], indicating that even small natural chemical libraries may be sufficient to identify new agents of interest.…”

Procyanidin trimer C1 reactivates latent HIV as a triple combination therapy with kansui and JQ1

“…Kansui and PC1 are both compounds derived from natural plant sources, which represent affordable, readily available raw materials which can easily be made into therapeutic agents [ 51 ]. Kansui has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of fluid retention, ascites, and cancer; consumed as a tea in its raw form [ 52 – 54 ].…”

“…The plant sources of PC1 have natural metabolic and anti-inflammatory properties as well as reported cardiovascular and anti-cancer benefits [ 57 – 60 ]. While natural product based therapeutics are often viewed as alternative medical treatments, scientific discovery of therapeutic compounds has a rich history of plant derived drugs, including aspririn, taxol, and quinine [ 51 ]. Taking advantage of these natural products has the potential to yield affordable and more easily scalable production of LRAs.…”

A roadmap to engineering antiviral natural products synthesis in microbes

“…Viral pathogenesis is characterized as a number of distinct stages involving host–virus interactions, including attachment on cell surface, entry into cell through specific receptors, release of viral DNA/RNAs, viral genome replication and transcription, viral protein translation, virus assembly and repackaging, breakdown of host cell and triggering of host immune response et al ( Figure 1 ). A variety of natural products have been reported to possess potent antiviral activities in vitro and in vivo [ 1 •• , 2 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. By surveying about 200 natural products with antiviral activity, we have selected 23 promising natural products with distinct antiviral mode of actions shown in Figure 1 .…”