RESUMO
Background: During the recent years, significant progress has been achieved on development of novel anti-viral drugs. Natural products are assumed as the potential sources of novel anti-viral drugs; therefore, there are some previous studies reporting the anti-viral compounds from venomous animals. Based on the significant value for tracing of non-toxic anti-viral agents from natural resources, this study was aimed to investigate the anti-viral activity of some HPLC purified fractions derived from the venom of Iranian scorpion, Hemiscorpius lepturus, against human immunodeficiency virus 1 [HIV-1] and herpes simplex virus 1 [HSV-1]
Methods: H. Lepturus crude venom was subjected to reverse phase HPLC analysis to determine its active components precisely where four dominant fractions obtained at retention time of 156-160 minutes. The phospholipase A2 and hemolytic activities of the purified fractions were first evaluated. Then the anti-viral activity was measured using single cycle HIV [NL4-3] replication and HSV [KOS] plaque reduction assays
Results: The H. lepturus crude venom inhibited HIV replication by 73% at the concentration of 200 micro g/ml, while it did not show significant anti-HSV activity. It also inhibited the cell-free viral particles in a virucidal assay, while it showed no toxicity for the target cells in a proliferation assay. The four HPLC fractions purified from H. lepturus inhibited HIV with IC50 of 20 micro g/ml
Conclusion: H. lepturus venom contains components with considerable anti-HIV activity insofar as it has virucidal activity that offers a novel therapeutic approach against HIV infection. Our results suggest a promising pilot for anti-HIV drug discovery with H. lepturus scorpion venom
RESUMO
Application of adjuvants with microbial origins is a recently highlighted approach in the vaccinology trials. Archaeosomes are among these microbial compounds with both adjuvant and liposomal activities and features. In the present study, recombinant HBsAg encapsulated into Methanobrevibacter smithii [M. smithii] archaeosomes. Balb/c mice immunized with this compound and humoral and cytokine secretion pattern of immunized models analyzed. Frequency of IFN-gamma secreting cells in the HBsAg-containing archaeosomes group was significantly higher than HBsAg and HBsAg+C/IFA groups [p
Assuntos
Animais de Laboratório , Antígenos de Superfície da Hepatite B , Imunidade Humoral , Linfócitos T Auxiliares-Indutores , Imunidade Celular , Archaea , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB CRESUMO
Anopheles fluviatilis James (Diptera: Culicidae) is one of the known malaria vectors in south and southeastern Iran. Earlier ITS2 sequences analysis of specimens from Iran demonstrated only a single genotype that was identical to species Y in India, which is also the same as species T. We identified 2 haplotypes in the An. fluviatilis populations of Iran based on differences in nucleotide sequences of D3 domain of the 28S locus of ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Comparison of sequence data from 44 Iranian specimens with those publicly available in the Genbank database showed that all of the 28S-D3 sequences from Kazeroun and Khesht regions in Fars Province were identical to the database entry representing species U in India. In other regions, all the individuals showed heterozygosity at the single nucleotide position, which identifies species U and T. It is argued that the 2 species may co-occur in some regions and hybridize; however, the heterozygosity in the 28S-D3 locus was not reflected in ITS2 sequences and this locus for all individuals was identical to species T. This study shows that in a newly diverged species, like members of An. fluviatilis complex, a single molecular marker may not be sufficiently discriminatory to identify all the taxa over a vast geographical area. In addition, other molecular markers may provide more reliable information for species discrimination.