Propolis HIV

1: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Nov;1056:279-92.

Novel Drugs and Vaccines Based on the Structure and Function of HIV Pathogenic Proteins Including Nef.

Azad AA.

Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical School, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa. a_azad05@yahoo.com.au.

Evidence is presented to suggest that HIV-1 accessory protein Nef could be involved in AIDS pathogenesis. When present in extracellular medium, Nefcauses the death of a wide variety of cells in vitro and may therefore be responsible for the depletion of bystander cells in lymphoid tissues during HIV infection. When present inside the cell, Nef could prevent the death of infected cells and thereby contribute to increased viral load. Intracellular Nef does this by preventing apoptosis of infected cells by either inhibiting proteins involved in apoptosis or preventing the infected cells from being recognized by CTLs. Neutralization of extracellular Nef could prevent the death of uninfected immune cells and thereby the destruction of the immune system. Neutralization of intracellular Nef could hasten the death of infected cells and help reduce the viral load. Nef is therefore a very important molecular target for developing therapeutics that slow progression to AIDS. The N-terminal region of Nef and the naturally occurring bee venom mellitin have very similar primary and tertiary structures, and they both act by destroying membranes. Chemical analogs of a mellitin inhibitor prevent Nef-mediated cell death and inhibit the interaction of Nef with cellular proteins involved in apoptosis. Naturally occurring bee propolis also contains substances that prevent Nef-mediated cell lysisand increases proliferation of CD4 cells in HIV-infected cultures. These chemical compounds and natural products are water soluble and nontoxic and are therefore potentially very useful candidate drugs.

2: J Ethnopharmacol. 2005 Nov 14;102(2):158-63. Epub 2005 Jul 19.

  
Anti-HIV-1 activity of propolis in CD4(+) lymphocyte and microglial cell cultures.

Gekker G, Hu S, Spivak M, Lokensgard JR, Peterson PK.

Neuroimmunology Laboratory, Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA; Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Translational Research, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA.

An urgent need for additional agents to treat human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection led us to assess the anti-HIV-1 activity of the natural product propolis in CD4(+) lymphocytes and microglial cell cultures. Propolis inhibited viral expression in a concentration-dependent manner (maximal suppression of 85 and 98% was observed at 66.6mug/ml propolis in CD4(+) and microglial cell cultures, respectively). Similar anti-HIV-1 activity was observed with propolis samples from several geographic regions. The mechanism of propolis antiviral property in CD4(+) lymphocytes appeared to involve, in part, inhibition of viral entry. While propolis had an additive antiviral effect on the reverse transcriptase inhibitor zidovudine, it had no noticeable effect on the protease inhibitor indinavir. The results of this in vitro study support the need for clinical trials of propolis or one or more of its components in the treatment of HIV-1 infection.

3: J Oral Sci. 2002 Mar;44(1):41-8.

Effect of commercial ethanol propolis extract on the in vitro growth of Candida albicans collected from HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative Brazilian patients with oral candidiasis.
Martins RS, Pereira ES Jr, Lima SM, Senna MI, Mesquita RA, Santos VR.

Department of Clinical Pathology and Surgery, School of Dentistry, Minas Gerais Federal University, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

The present study assessed the susceptibility of Candida albicans strains, collected from HIV-positive patients with oral candidiasis, to a commercial 20% ethanol propolis extract (EPE) and compare it to the inhibitory action of the standardized antifungal agents nystatin(NYS), clotrimazole (CL), econazole (EC), and fluconazole (FL). Twelve C. albicans strains collected from HIV-positive patients with oral candidiasis were tested. The inhibition zones were measured with a pachimeter and the results are reported as means and standard deviation (M +/- SD). Data were analyzed statistically by the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test. EPE inhibited all the C. albicansstrained tested. No significant difference was observed between the results obtained with NYS and EPE, while significant differences were observed between EPE and other antifungals. The C. albicans strains tested showed resistance to the remaining antifungal agents. The propolis extract used in this study inhibited the in vitro growth of C. albicans collected from HIV-seropositive Brazilian patients, creating/forming inhibition zones like those ones formed by NYS. This fact suggests that commercial EPE could be an alternative medicine in the treatment of candidiasis from HIV-positive patients. However, in vivo studies of the effect of EPE are needed to determine its possible effects on the oral mucosa.

4: J Nat Prod. 2001 Oct;64(10):1278-81.

Anti-AIDS agents. 48.(1) Anti-HIV activity of moronic acid derivatives and the new melliferone-related triterpenoidisolated from Brazilian propolis.
Ito J, Chang FR, Wang HK, Park YK, Ikegaki M, Kilgore N, Lee KH.

Natural Products Laboratory, School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, NC 27599, USA.

A new triterpenoid named melliferone (1), three known triterpenoids, moronic acid (2), anwuweizonic acid (3), and betulonic acid (4), and four known aromatic compounds (5-8) were isolated from Brazilian propolis and tested for anti-HIV activity in H9 lymphocytes. Moronic acid (2) showed significant anti-HIV activity (EC(50) <0.1 microg/mL, TI >186) and was modified to develop more potent anti-AIDS agents.

5: In Vivo. 2001 Jan-Feb;15(1):17-23.

Diverse biological activities of healthy foods.

Kobayashi N, Unten S, Kakuta H, Komatsu N, Fujimaki M, Satoh K, Aratsu C, Nakashima H, Kikuchi H, Ochiai K, Sakagami H.

Fujimi Bee House, Shiki, Saitama, Japan.

Diverse biological activities of 7 healthy foods [powdered pine needle, citrate-fermented sesame, powdered coffee, royal jelly, propolis, pollen and white sesame oil (extracted by super critical state (40 degrees C, 350 atmospheric pressure))] were investigated. The pine needle, sesame and powdered coffee was also extracted successively by ethanol and hot water, and lyophilized. The pine needle and coffee extracts, and propolis showed higher in vitrocytotoxic, bactericidal and oxidation activity, as compared with other 4 lipophilic healthy foods. However, propolis showed slightly lower, but significantcytotoxic and bactericidal activity with much reduced oxidation potential. ESR spectroscopy demonstrated that the cytotoxic activity of these extracts was closely related to their radical generation and O2- scavenging activities. Healthy food components may have both pro-oxidant and anti-oxidant properties. Pre-treatment of mice with pine needle, sesame or powdered coffee extract significantly reduced the lethality of bacterial infection, possibly due to their host-mediated action. These extracts failed to reduce the cytophatic effect of HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus) infection in MT-4 cells. No apparent acute toxicity was detected in mice by oral administration of 10 g/kg of these extracts. This data suggest the medicinal efficacy of healthy foods.

6: Drugs Exp Clin Res. 1997;23(2):89-96.

Suppression of HIV-1 replication by propolis and its immunoregulatory effect.

Harish Z, Rubinstein A, Golodner M, Elmaliah M, Mizrachi Y.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Immunology, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.

In the current study we show that propolis, a non-toxic natural bee-hive product, suppresses HIV-1 replication and modulates in vitro immune responses. CEM cells were treated with propolis at nontoxic concentrations prior to or following infection with HIV-1. Propolis abolished syncytium formation at 4.5 micrograms/ml and inhibited it at lower doses in a concentration-dependent manner. Propolis decreased p24 antigen production by as much as 90-100% in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, modulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) mitogenic responses upon the addition ofpropolis was noted, reducing the elevated responses to Concanavalin A (Con A) and enhancing suppressed mitogenic responses to pokeweed mitogen(PWM). In summary, propolis may constitute a non-toxic natural product with both anti HIV-1 and immunoregulatory effects.

7: J Am Acad Dermatol. 1996 Oct;35(4):644.

 
Propolis allergy in an HIV-positive patient.

Bellegrandi S, D'Offizi G, Ansotegui IJ, Ferrara R, Scala E, Paganelli R.

Department of Clinical Medicine, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.

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