MAP 30: a new inhibitor of HIV-1 infection and replication

• Published in: FEBS letters 1990-10, Vol.272 (1), p.12-18
• Main Authors: Lee-Huang, Sylvia, Huang, Philip L., Nara, Peter L., Chen, Hao-Chia, Kung, Hsiang-fu, Huang, Peter, Huang, Henry I., Huang, Paul L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - drug therapy; AIDS; AIDS/HIV; Amino Acid Sequence; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Antiviral agent; Antiviral Agents - isolation & purification; Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Line; Cell Survival - drug effects; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Products, gag - biosynthesis; HIV Core Protein p24; HIV-1 - drug effects; HIV-1 - physiology; human immunodeficiency virus 1; Molecular Sequence Data; Momordica charantia; Plant protein; Plant Proteins - isolation & purification; Plant Proteins - pharmacology; Plant Proteins - therapeutic use; Plants, Medicinal - analysis; Proteins; Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 2; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; T-Lymphocytes - microbiology; Viral Core Proteins - biosynthesis; Virus Replication - drug effects
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-5793(90)80438-O

A new inhibitor of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been isolated and purified to homogeneity from the seeds and fruits of the Momordica charantia. This compound, MAP 30 (Momordica Anti-HIV Protein), is a basic protein of about 30 kDa. It exhibits dose-dependent inhibition of cell-free HIV-1 infection and replication as measured by: (i) quantitative focal syncytium formation on CEM-ss monolayers; (II) viral core protein p24 expression; and (iii) viral-associated reverse transcriptase (RT) activity in HIV-1 infected H9 cells. The doses required for 50% inhibition (ID 50) in these assays were 0.83, 0.22 and 0.33 nM, respectively. No cytotoxic or cytostatic effects were found under the assay conditions. These data suggest that MAP 30 may be a useful therapeutic agent in the treatment of HIV-1 infections. The sequence of the N-terminal 44 amino acids of MAP 30 has been determined.