Important note: Information in this article was accurate in June 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, June 6, 2005
Staff Medical Writers
"Griffithsin (GRFT), a novel anti-HIV protein, was isolated from an aqueous extract of the red alga Griffithsia sp. The 121-amino acid sequence of GRFT has been determined, and biologically active GRFT was subsequently produced by expression of a corresponding DNA sequence in Escherichia coli.
"Both native and recombinant GRFT displayed potent antiviral activity against laboratory strains and primary isolates of T- and M-tropic HIV-1 with EC50 values ranging from 0.043 to 0.63 nM," researchers in the United States report.
"GRFT also aborted cell-to-cell fusion and transmission of HIV-1 infection at similar concentrations. High concentrations (e.g., 783 nM) of GRFT were not lethal to any tested host cell types. GRFT blocked CD4-dependent glycoprotein (gp) 120 binding to receptor-expressing cells and bound to viral coat glycoproteins (gp120, gp41, and gp160) in a glycosylation-dependent manner," said the authors.
"GRFT preferentially inhibited gp120 binding of the monoclonal antibody (mAb) 2G12, which recognizes a carbohydrate-dependent motif, and the (mAb) 48d, which binds to CD4-induced epitope. In addition, GRFT moderately interfered with the binding of gp120 to sCD4," wrote T. Mori and coworkers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Investigators continued, "Further data showed that the binding of GRFT to soluble gp120 was inhibited by the monosaccharides glucose, mannose, and N-acetylglucosamine but not by galactose, xylose, fucose, N-acetylgalactosamine, or sialic acid-containing glycoproteins."
"Taken together," concluded Mori, "these data suggest that GRFT is a new type of lectin that binds to various viral glycoproteins in a monosaccharide-dependent manner. GRFT could be a potential candidate microbicide to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and AIDS."
Mori and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Isolation and characterization of griffithsin, a novel HIV-inactivating protein, from the red alga Griffithsia sp. Biol Chem. 2005 Mar 11;280(10):9345-53.
For additional information, contact T. Mori, NCI, Molecular Targets Development Program, Center Cancer Research, Bldg 562, Rm 201, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
Publisher contact information for the Journal of Biological Chemistry is: American Society Biochemistry Molecular Biology Inc., 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3996, USA.
Keywords: Frederick, Maryland, United States, HIV/AIDS, Inactivating Protein, Red Algae, Pharmaceutical & Drug Development, Antiretroviral.
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
Reference
Mori T, O'Keefe BR, Sowder RC 2nd, et al., Isolation and characterization of griffithsin, a novel HIV-inactivating protein, from the red alga Griffithsia sp, Biol Chem. 2005 Mar 11;280(10):9345-53.
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