Flavonol 7-O-Glucoside Herbacitrin Inhibits HIV-1 Replication through Simultaneous Integrase and Reverse Transcriptase Inhibition

Abstract EN

Here we report the evaluation of the antiretroviral effect of two flavonoid 7-O-glucosides, herbacitrin (1) and gossypitrin (2), together with quercetin (3), a well-studied flavonol.

Antiviral activity of the flavonoids was assessed by analyzing HIV-1 p24 core protein levels in the supernatants of HIV-1 infected MT-4 and MT-2 cell cultures.

The compounds showed mild to weak cytotoxic activities on the host cells; herbacitrin was the strongest in this regard (CC50=27.8 and 63.64 μM on MT-4 and MT-2 cells, respectively).

In nontoxic concentrations, herbacitrin and quercetin reduced HIV-1 replication, whereas gossypitrin was ineffective.

Herbacitrin was found to inhibit reverse transcriptase at 21.5 μM, while it was a more potent integrase inhibitor already active at 2.15 μM.

Therefore, our observations suggest that herbacitrin exerts antiretroviral activity through simultaneously acting on these two targets of HIV-1 and that integrase inhibition might play a major role in this activity.