ABSTRACT
Aim: Jamaica is rich in medicinal plants. Guaiacum officinale is the “National Flower”, with reported uses in folk medicine for the treatment of various conditions including inflammation. In our search for plants with anticancer and anti-infective properties, we evaluated Guaiacum officinale for activity against HIV-1. Methodology: The leaf, seed and twig extracts of G. officinale were screened for anti HIV-1 properties in primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) infected with the reference HIV-1 BaL strain. Results: All the tested extracts inhibited HIV-1 p24 production by infected cells, with EC50 concentrations of 22.35μg/ml, 23.42μg/ml and 25.04μg/ml, respectively for the leaf, seed and twig extracts. As comparison, Betulinic acid had an EC50 value of 27.50μg/ml. The tested extracts had IC50/EC50 selectivity index (SI) values of ≥ 3, which compared favorably to Betulinic acid SI value of 1.09. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that extracts of G. officinale may provide leads for the discovery of new drug agents against HIV-1.