Assuntos
Peptidomiméticos , Inibidores de Proteases , Coronavírus Relacionado à Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/enzimologia , Proteínas Virais/antagonistas & inibidores , Aminoácidos , Proteases 3C de Coronavírus , Cisteína Endopeptidases , Desenho de Fármacos , Concentração Inibidora 50 , Estrutura Molecular , Oligopeptídeos/síntese química , Peptidomiméticos/síntese química , Inibidores de Proteases/síntese química , Especificidade por SubstratoAssuntos
Cisteína Endopeptidases/química , Peptidomiméticos , Inibidores de Proteases , Coronavírus Relacionado à Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/enzimologia , Proteínas Virais/química , Aminoácidos , Proteases 3C de Coronavírus , Desenho de Fármacos , Concentração Inibidora 50 , Estrutura Molecular , Oligopeptídeos/síntese química , Peptidomiméticos/síntese química , Inibidores de Proteases/síntese química , Coronavírus Relacionado à Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/classificação , Especificidade por Substrato , Proteínas Virais/antagonistas & inibidoresRESUMO
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used for prevention and treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong during the outbreak in spring 2003. We investigated the immunomodulating effects of an innovative TCM regimen derived from two herbal formulas (Sang Ju Yin and Yu Ping Feng San) for treating febrile diseases. Thirty-seven healthy volunteers were given the oral TCM regimen daily for 14 days. Peripheral venous blood samples were taken on days 0, 15 and 29 for hematology, biochemistry and immunology tests, including the measurement of blood lymphocyte subsets and plasma T-helper lymphocyte types 1 and 2 cytokines and receptor. After 3 months, 23 of the volunteers participated in a control study without TCM treatment for the same time course of blood tests. Two volunteers withdrew on day 2, due to headache and dizziness. All others remained well without any side effects. No participants showed significant changes in their blood test results, except that the T-lymphocyte CD4/CD8 ratio increased significantly from 1.31 +/- 0.50 (mean +/- SD) on day 0 to 1.41 +/- 0.63 on day 15 (p < 0.02), and reduced to 1.32 +/- 0.47 on day 29 (p < 0.05). In the control study, there were no changes in the CD4/CD8 ratio. The transient increase in CD4/CD8 ratio was likely due to the TCM intake. We postulate that the administration of the innovative TCM may have beneficial immunomodulatory effects for preventing viral infections including SARS.
Assuntos
Relação CD4-CD8 , Medicamentos de Ervas Chinesas/uso terapêutico , Medicina Tradicional Chinesa , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-IdadeRESUMO
A variety of antifungal proteins were isolated from seeds of leguminous plants including French bean, cowpea, field bean, mung bean, peanut and red kidney bean. They were assayed for ability to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase, protease and integrase, enzymes essential to the life cycle of HIV-1 . It was found that the cowpea beta-antifungal protein had a high potency in inhibiting HIV-1 protease and HIV-1 integrase. Cowpea alpha-antifungal protein was potent in inhibiting HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and HIV-1 integrase. Peanut antifungal protein was characterized by a high inhibitory activity against HIV-1 integrase and an intermediate potency in inhibiting HIV- I reverse transcriptase and HIV- I protease. French bean thaumatin-like protein expressed low HIV- I protease inhibitory activity and red kidney bean lectin inhibited HIV- I integrase by only a very small extent. Antifungal proteins from the field bean and mung bean had an intermediate potency in inhibitory HIV-1 protease and integrase. However, mung bean antifungal protein was not capable of inhibiting HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. The results indicate that nearly all leguminous antifungal proteins examined were able to inhibit HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, protease and integrase to some extent.
