title: Antiviral activity of seed extract from Citrus bergamia towards human retroviruses.
abstract: The effects of an extract from Citrus bergamia (BSext) and those of two products purified from the same extract, that is, nomilin and limonin, and reference compounds, towards HTLV-1 have been reported. Moreover, they were also compared with those obtained towards HIV-1. Results showed that the efficacy of both BSext and limonin in inhibiting HTLV-1 as well as HIV-1 expression in infected cells, as evaluated by comparable quantitative assays, was close to that of the effective, reference compounds, respectively. The protective effect of BSext and of the purified products was associated with the inhibition of both HTLV-1 and HIV-1 RT activities in conceptually similar, cell-free assays. The cytotoxicity of the assayed compounds of natural origin was substantially less pronounced than that of the reference compounds, thus showing a favourable selectivity index for the novel BSext product.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Science, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Balestrieri
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pizzimenti
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferlazzo
authors.forename: Salvatore V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Giofrè
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Iannazzo
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piperno
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: Maria Assunta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Chiacchio
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mastino
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Macchi
mesh_terms: D001584:Benzoxepins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity; D002957:Citrus / Q000737:chemistry*; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D036701:Limonins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001584:Benzoxepins; D036701:Limonins; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; C059405:nomilin; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase