HIV-1 Protease Inhibition and Anti-HIV Effect of Natural and Synthetic Water-soluble Lignin-like Substances

Abstract

  Water-soluble lignin extracted from natural sources and dehydrogenated polymers of p-coumaric acid and ferulic acid inhibited HIV-1 protease activity. The dehydrogenated polymers, which are thought to be model compounds for lignin, were synthesized and fractionated into four ranges of molecular mass by ultra-filtration: i.e., over 30 kDa, 30-10 kDa, 10-1 kDa and 1 kDa-500 Da. All of these fractions had HIV-1 protease inhibitory activity. The anti-HIV-1 effect of the smallest mass fractions of the dehydrogenated polymers (1 kDa-500 Da) was also tested, and it was found that these fractions inhibited the replication of HIV-1 in MT-4 cells.