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The mannose-specific plant lectins from the Amaryllidaceae family (e.g., Hippeastrum sp. hybrid and Galanthus nivalis) inhibit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of human lymphocytic cells in the higher nanogram per milliliter range and suppress syncytium formation between persistently HIV type 1 (HIV-1)-infected cells and uninfected CD4(+) T cells. These lectins inhibit virus entry. When exposed to escalating concentrations of G. nivalis and Hippeastrum sp. hybrid agglutinin, a variety of HIV-1(III(B)) strains were isolated after 20 to 40 subcultivations which showed a decreased sensitivity to the plant lectins. Several amino acid changes in the envelope glycoprotein gp120, but not in gp41, of the mutant virus isolates were observed. The vast majority of the amino acid changes occurred at the N glycosylation sites and at the S or T residues that are part of the N glycosylation motif. The degree of resistance to the plant lectins was invariably correlated with an increasing number of mutated glycosylation sites in gp120. The nature of these mutations was entirely different from that of mutations that are known to appear in HIV-1 gp120 under the pressure of other viral entry inhibitors such as dextran sulfate, bicyclams (i.e., AMD3100), and chicoric acid, which also explains the lack of cross-resistance of plant lectin-resistant viruses to any other HIV inhibitor including T-20 and the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria)-derived mannose-specific cyanovirin. The plant lectins represent a well-defined class of anti-HIV (microbicidal) drugs with a novel HIV drug resistance profile different from those of other existing anti-HIV drugs.

omega-Acryloyl anionic surfactants, whose polar heads are derived from amino acids, have been telomerized to prepare polyanions of a predetermined molecular weight. The main goal of this study was to verify whether the antiviral activity is influenced by the degree of polymerization of the polyanions. The oligomeric polyanions were evaluated for their activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1 or HIV-2) and various other RNA and DNA viruses. With regard to their anti-HIV activity, a minimum number of anionic groups was necessary to achieve an inhibitory effect. Moreover, to be active the overall conformation of the polyanion must be such that the anionic groups are located on the external site of the molecule. With some of the polyanions, a 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) as low as 1 microgram/ mL, or even 0.1 microgram/mL, was noted against HIV-1 in CEM-4 and MT-4 cells, respectively. The most potent polyanions also proved active against human cytomegalovirus and herpex simplex virus at concentrations of 5-10 and 20-40 micrograms/mL, respectively. No activity was observed against any of the other viruses tested (i.e., vesicular stomatitis, Sindbis, Semliki forest, parainfluenza, Junin, Tacaribe, Coxsackie, polio, reo, and vaccinia). No toxicity for the host cells was observed at concentrations up to 200 micrograms/mL.

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A series of novel 2-substituted-3-(sulphonamido) quinazolin-4(3H)-ones have been synthesized by condensing the primary amino group of sulphamoxole and sulphadimidine with 2-substituted benzoxazin-2-one. The compounds synthesized were screened for antibacterial activity (Escherichia coil and Staphylococcus aureus) antiviral activity (Herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2 in E 6 SM cells, HIV-1 and 2 in MT-4 cells), all the test compounds exhibited comparable antibacterial activity with that of standards sulphamoxole and sulphadimidine.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

Abstract For Abstract see ChemInform Abstract in Full Text.