Scientists Successfully Blocked The Entry Phase of Cellular Infection By Human immunodeficiency virus -1 (HIV-1)

Kyle J. Norton 

Is a cure of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) on the horizon?

Scientists successfully obstructed the progress of entry phase of healthy cell infected by human immunodeficiency virus -1 (HIV-1) attemptedly in the cellular models, using major bioactive ingredients extracted from black and green tea, namely theaflavins and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), respectively.

Human immunodeficiency virus -1 (HIV-1) is one of 2 types of HIV precipitated of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), transmitted through direct contact with HIV-infected body fluids, including blood, semen, and genital secretions,….

People in the early stage infected by the virus may experience some acute symptoms caused by immune response, including fever sore throat, rash, muscle and joint aches and pains, headache,….

If untreated, the virus will slowly multiply and destroy the cells of  immune system, leading to chronic signs and symptoms of fever, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes,…. 

In the late stage, HIV-1 may severely damage the immune system, making the infected host vulnerable to some life-threatening diseases and cancers. If an infected individual has the numbers of T-cell count below 200, the person is considered to have AID.

According to the statistic, AIDS is the fifth leading cause of death in US.

People between ages 25 and 44 in United States are at substantially higher risk in compared to other age group.

Approximately 36.7 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS in 2016, including, 2.1 million of children less than 15 years of age.

Green and black tea, the precious drink process numbers of health benefit known to almost everyone in Asia and Western world.

In the investigation of theaflavins, the major components of tea polyphenols extracted from brewed black tea inhibited HIV-1 entry by targeting gp41 which is a transmembrane protein with function in embedded with outer coat of HIV to enter and infected host cells, researchers found that injection of Theaflavins exerts an inhibitory activity correlated to their ability in blocking the formation of the gp41 six-helix bundle, a fusion-active core conformation.

However, due to the unstable and purified of the individual theaflavins, a natural preparation containing 90% of theaflavins (TFmix) was used in most study to experiment of its effect against HIV-1 microbide for preventing HIV sexual transmission.

In vitro using p24 production and luciferase assays, TFmix exhibited potent anti-HIV-1 activity on lab-adapted and primary HIV-1 strains with IC(50), the concentration of an application that gives half-maximal response in dose of less than 1.20 μM.

Further analysis indicated that the efficacy of Theaflavins in  targeting the gp41  is attributed to its function in inhibited virus-host membrane fusion during infection, mediated by the formation of six helix bundle (6HB) in crossover of the virus and the host cell.

In other words, theaflavins administration was found to initiate potent anti-HIV-1 activity by targeting the viral entry step through the disruption of gp41 6-HB core structure,

Moreover, application of theaflavins (TFmix) also inhibited reverse transcriptase (RT) activity in an RNA-dependent DNA, which is the process in replication of RNA from a DNA template through polymerase (DNAP) enzyme in forming new copies of DNA, in the form of nucleic acid molecules, with the IC(50) about 8-fold higher of theaflavins (TFmix) concentration than those in inhibiting gp41 6-HB formation.

In peptide fragments, derived from prostatic acidic phosphatase secreted in large amounts into human semen to form amyloid fibrils plaques to induce viral infection (SEVI), other green tea  bioactive member, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) captures the HIV virions and directs them to target cells into liver cell to initiated entry step, during sexual activity.

These results showed that injection of green tea epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) inhibited the expression of SEVI and revoked semen in mediated enhancement of HIV-1 infection through precipitated viral degradation without inducing healthy cell toxicity.

Additionally, green tea EGCG activity, in HIV-1 infectivity on human CD4+ T cells, at a physiologic concentration of 6μM, significantly inhibited HIV-1 p24 antigen production in expression of acute infection in both HIV-1 clinical isolates and laboratory-adapted subtypes B C, D, and G.

Interestingly, researchers discovered that EGCG-induced inhibition of HV-1 infectivity was not due to cytotoxicity, restricted cell growth, nor apoptosis but blocking the HIV activity in attachment of HIV-1-gp120, a glycoprotein exposed on the surface of the HIV envelope to the CD4 molecule in the entry point in initiated infectivity.

Dr. Christina L., the lead author concluded, “(by) preventing the attachment of HIV-1-gp120 to the CD4 molecule, EGCG inhibits HIV-1 infectivity. As this inhibition can be achieved at physiologic concentrations, the natural anti-HIV agent, EGCG, is a candidate as an alternative therapy in HIV-1 therapy”.

The findings suggested that green and black tea with abundant bioactive polyphenols Theaflavins including epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) may be considered as a function food to ameliorated risk of HIV 1 infection by blocking the complex process in initiation, at the cellular models.

Therefore, further data collection on large sample size and multi centers clinical studies performed with human consumption during the course of the investigation will be necessary to complete the picture of green and black tea bioactive ingredients’ protective effect against Human Immunodeficiency Virus -1 (HIV-1) possibilities.

Intake of tea supplements should be taken with extreme care as acute liver toxicity was reported in numbers of case in medical literature.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrients, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published on line, including world wide health, ezine articles, article base, healthblogs, selfgrowth, best before it’s news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada – Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bio science, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) The main green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate counteracts semen-mediated enhancement of HIV infection by Hauber I1, Hohenberg H, Holstermann B, Hunstein W, Hauber J.(PubMed)
(2) A natural theaflavins preparation inhibits HIV-1 infection by targeting the entry step: potential applications for preventing HIV-1 infection by Yang J1, Li L, Tan S, Jin H, Qiu J, Mao Q, Li R, Xia C, Jiang ZH, Jiang S, Liu S.(PubMed)
(3) Theaflavin derivatives in black tea and catechin derivatives in green tea inhibit HIV-1 entry by targeting gp41 by Liu S1, Lu H, Zhao Q, He Y, Niu J, Debnath AK, Wu S, Jiang S.(PubMed)
(4) Preclinical Development of the Green Tea Catechin, Epigallocatechin Gallate, as an HIV-1 Therapy by Christina L. Nance, Ph.D.,a Edward B. Siwak, Ph.D.,b and William T. Shearer, MD, Ph.Da(PMC)
(5) The HIV-1 gp41 N-terminal heptad repeat plays an essential role in membrane fusion by Sackett K1, Shai Y.(PubMed)
(6) AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) by Institute of Human Virology (IHV)