• Natural Product Sciences
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• 제4권4호
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• pp.241-244
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• 1998

For the development of anti-AIDS agents, thirty-seven methanol extracts of Korean plant materials were tested for their inhibitory effects on human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) protease. Extracts of seven plants showed more than 30% inhibitory activities on HIV-1 protease at a concentration of $100\;{\mu}g/ml$. The bark of Berchemia berchemiaefolia, the leaf of Lindera erythrocarpa and the whole plant of Siegesbeckia pubescens exhibited significant inhibititory activities on HIV-1 protease with 56.2, 50.8, and 46.6%, respectively.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제20권5호
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• pp.425-431
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• 1997

To examine components of Ganoderma lucidum for anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity, the aqueous extracts of its basidiocarps were separated into high-molecular-weight (HMF) and low-molecular-weight (LMF) fractions. These fractions were used in XTT [2,3-bis (2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-5-[(phenylamino) carbonyl]-2H-tetrazolium hydroxide] antiviral assay which can quantitatively measure cytopathic effects of HIV-1 on CEM, human T lymphoblastoid cell line. The CEM cell line added with serial diluted HMF or LMF was cultured in the absence or presence of HIV-1. The results showed that the LMF of the aqueous extract strongly inhibited cytopathic effect of the target cell induced by HIV-1. When two-fold serially diluted LMF ranging from $40.97{\mu}g/ml$4 to 125.00 .mu.g/ml was added to the virus-free culture system, no toxicity on the target cells was detected in all the concentrations tested. However, when it was added to the HIV-infected culture system, the viabilities of the target cell reached a plateau recovering its viabilities to 71.7% and 82.5% in experiment-1 and -2 at 15.60 .mu.g/ml, respectively. The cell viabilities were then gradually decreased but maintained at more than 50% above 31.20 .mu.g/ml concentration. On the contrary, HMF did not prevent any HIV-induced cytopathic effect at any concentrations tested on this cell line. From these results, negligible toxicities were observed by both HMF and LMF of G. luciolum, and recovery of cell viability in HIV infected target cell was induced only by LMF of the carpophores.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.238-247
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• 2023

Objectives: Low adherence to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in pregnant women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) increases the risk of virus transmission from mother to newborn. Increasing mothers' knowledge and motivation to access treatment has been identified as a critical factor in prevention. Therefore, this research aimed to explore barriers and enablers in accessing HIV care and treatment services. Methods: This research was the first phase of a mixed-method analysis conducted in Kupang, a remote city in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. Samples were taken by purposive sampling of 17 people interviewed, consisting of 6 mothers with HIV, 5 peer facilitators, and 6 health workers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations, and document review. Inductive thematic analysis was also performed. The existing data were grouped into several themes, then relationships and linkages were drawn from each group of informants. Results: Barriers to accessing care and treatment were lack of knowledge about the benefits of ARV; stigma from within and the surrounding environment; difficulty in accessing services due to distance, time, and cost; completeness of administration; drugs' side effects; and the quality of health workers and HIV services. Conclusions: There was a need for a structured and integrated model of peer support to improve ARV uptake and treatment in pregnant women with HIV. This research identified needs including mini-counseling sessions designed to address psychosocial barriers as an integrated approach to support antenatal care that can effectively assist HIV-positive pregnant women in improving treatment adherence.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권7호
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• pp.1317-1325
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• 2008

Viral safety is an important prerequisite for clinical preparations of plasma-derived pharmaceuticals. One potential way to increase the safety of therapeutic biological products is the use of a virus-retentive filter. In order to increase the viral safety of human antihemophilic factor IX, particularly in regard to non-enveloped viruses, a virus removal process using a polyvinylidene fluoride membrane filter (Viresolve NFP) has been optimized. The most critical factor affecting the filtration efficiency was operating pH and the optimum pH was 6 or 7. Flow rate increased with increasing operating pressure and temperature. Recovery yield in the optimized production-scale process was 96%. No substantial changes were observed in the physical and biochemical characteristics of the filtered factor IX in comparison with those before filtration. A 47-mm disk membrane filter was used to simulate the process performance of the production-scale cartridges and to test if it could remove several experimental model viruses for human pathogenic viruses, including human hepatitis A virus (HAV), porcine parvovirus (PPV), murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), and bovine herpes virus (BHV). Non-enveloped viruses (HAV, PPV, and EMCV) as well as enveloped viruses (HIV, BVDV, and BHV) were completely removed during filtration. The log reduction factors achieved were $\geq$6.12 for HAV, $\geq$4.28 for PPV, $\geq$5.33 for EMCV, $\geq$5.51 for HIV, $\geq$5.17 for BVDV, and $\geq$5.75 for BHV. These results indicate that the virus filtration process successfully improved the viral safety of factor IX.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.150-157
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• 2002

Background: Although Tat plays a role as a potent transactivator in the viral gene expression from the Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 long terminal repeat (HIV-1 LTR), it does not function efficiently in rodent cells implying the absence of a human specific factor essential for Tat-medicated transactivation in rodent cells. In previous experiments, we demonstrated that one of chimeric forms of TAR (transacting responsive element) of HIV-1 LTR compensated the restriction in rodent cells. Methods: To characterize the nature of the compensation, we tested the effects of several upstream binding factors of HIV-1 LTR by simple substitution, and also examined the role of the configuration of the upstream binding factor(s) indirectly by constructing spacing mutants that contained insertions between Sp1 and TATA box on Tat-mediated transactivation. Results: Human Sp1 had no effect whereas its associated factors displayed differential effects in human and rodent cells. In addition, none of the spacing mutants tested overcame the restriction in rodent cells. Rather, when the secondary structure of the chimeric HIV-1 TAR construct was destroyed, the compensation in rodent cells was disappeared. Interestingly, the proper interaction between Sp1 and TATA box binding proteins, which is essential for Tat-dependent transcription, was dispensable in rodent cells. Conclusion: This result suggests that the human-specific Tat cofactor acts to allow Tat to interact effectively in a ribonucleoprotein complex that includes Tat, cellular factors, and TAR RNA, rather than be associated with the HIV-1 LTR upstream DNA binding factors.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.186-191
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• 2005

Previous studies have demonstrated that expression of galectin-3, a member of family of beta-galactoside-binding animal lectin, is associated with pathological conditions including cancer, atherosclerosis, and viral infection. An increase of this lectin has been observed after infection by Kirsten murine sarcoma, human T lymphotropic virus-l (HTLV-l), and human immunodeficiency virus-l (HIV-l). Viral transactivation protein Tax of HTLV-l mediates the increase in the lectin. In case of HIV-1, there are evidences that Tat would be related with increase in galectin-3. We investigated whether Tat directly induced galectin-3 expression in cells. We found that HIV-l tat gene activated galectin-3 promoter in RAW264.7 cells. To demonstrate direct induction of galectin-3 by HIV-l tat, we transfected the tat into a rabbit smooth muscle cell line (Rb1) and obtained RblTatCl-2, a clone of cell stably transfected with tat gene. The Rb1TatCl-2 cells exhibited activation of LTR promoter and up-regulation of galectin-3 transcript as well as protein. Our results indicate that HIV-l tat alone is sufficient to induce the expression of galectin-3. The Rb1TatCl-2 cells could be valuable for study of the effect of HIV-1 tat on expression of cellular genes.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제57권3호
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• pp.117-124
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• 2014

Purpose: Administration of antiretroviral drugs to mothers and infants significantly decreases mother-to-child human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission; cesarean sections and discouraging breastfeeding further decreases this risk. The present study confirmed the HIV status of babies born to mothers infected with HIV and describes the characteristics of babies and mothers who received preventive treatment. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed medical records of nine infants and their mothers positive for HIV who gave birth at Korea University Ansan Hospital, between June 1, 2003, and May 31, 2013. Maternal parameters, including HIV diagnosis date, CD4+ count, and HIV ribonucleic acid (RNA) copy number, were analyzed. Infant growth and development, HIV RNA copy number, and HIV antigen/antibody test results were analyzed. Results: Eight HIV-positive mothers delivered nine babies; all the infants received antiretroviral therapy. Three (37.5%) and five mothers (62.5%) were administered single- and multidrug therapy, respectively. Intravenous zidovudine was administered to four infants (50%) at birth. Breastfeeding was discouraged for all the infants. All the infants were negative for HIV, although two were lost to follow-up. Third trimester maternal viral copy numbers were less than 1,000 copies/mL with a median CD4+ count of $325{\mu}L$ ($92-729{\mu}L$). Among the nine infants, two were preterm (22.2%) and three had low birth weights (33.3%). Conclusion: This study concludes that prophylactic antiretroviral therapy, scheduled cesarean section, and prohibition of breastfeeding considerably decrease mother-to-child HIV transmission. Because the number of infants infected via mother-to-child transmission may be increasing, studies in additional regions using more variables are necessary.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.122-129
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• 2015

DBM-2198, a six-membered azasugar nucleotide (6-AZN)-containing phosphorothioate (P = S) oligonucleotide (AZPSON), was described in our previous publication [Lee et al. (2005)] with regard to its antiviral activity against a broad spectrum of HIV-1 variants. This report describes the mechanisms underlying the anti-HIV-1 properties of DBM-2198. The LTR-mediated reporter assay indicated that the anti-HIV-1 activity of DBM-2198 is attributed to an extracellular mode of action rather than intracellular sequence-specific antisense activity. Nevertheless, the antiviral properties of DBM-2198 and other AZPSONs were highly restricted to HIV-1. Unlike other P = S oligonucleotides, DBM-2198 caused no host cell activation upon administration to cultures. HIV-1 that was pre-incubated with DBM-2198 did not show any infectivity towards host cells whereas host cells pre-incubated with DBM-2198 remained susceptible to HIV-1 infection, suggesting that DBM-2198 acts on the virus particle rather than cell surface molecules in the inhibition of HIV-1 infection. Competition assays for binding to HIV-1 envelope protein with anti-gp120 and anti-V3 antibodies revealed that DBM-2198 acts on the viral attachment site of HIV-1 gp120, but not on the V3 region. This report provides a better understanding of the antiviral mechanism of DBM-2198 and may contribute to the development of a potential therapeutic drug against a broad spectrum of HIV-1 variants.

• Gut and Liver
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.694-703
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• 2018

Background/Aims: Limited data exist comparing the safety and efficacy of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) in hepatitis C virus (HCV) monoinfected and HCV/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfected patients in the real-world clinic practice setting. Methods: All HCV monoinfected and HCV/HIV coinfected patients treated with DAAs between January 2014 and October 2017 in community clinic settings were retrospectively analyzed. Pretreatment baseline patient characteristics, treatment efficacy, factors affecting sustained virologic response at 12 weeks (SVR12) after treatment, and adverse reactions were compared between the groups. Results: A total of 327 patients were included in the study, of which 253 were HCV monoinfected, and 74 were HCV/HIV coinfected. There was a statistically significant difference observed in SVR12 when comparing HCV monoinfection and HCV/HIV coinfection (94% and 84%, respectively, p=0.005). However, there were no significant factors identified as a predictor of a reduced response. The most common adverse effect was fatigue (27%). No significant drug interaction was observed between DAA and antiretroviral therapy. None of the patients discontinued the treatment due to adverse events. Conclusions: In a real-world setting, DAA regimens have lower SVR12 in HCV/HIV coinfection than in HCV monoinfection. Further studies involving a higher number of HCV/HIV coinfected patients are needed to identify real predictors of a reduced response.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제51권6호
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• pp.326-328
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• 2018

As over 1000 new cases of HIV/AIDS occur in Korea annually, preventive health programs against HIV/AIDS are urgently needed. Since phylodynamic studies have been suggested as a way to understand how infectious diseases are transmitted and evolve, phylodynamic inferences can be a useful tool for HIV/AIDS research. In particular, phylodynamic models are helpful for dating the origins of an epidemic and estimating its basic reproduction number. Thus, the introduction of phylodynamics would be a highly valuable step towards controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Korea.