Anticytomegalovirus activity of pristimerin, a triterpenoid quinone methide isolated from Maytenus heterophylla (Eckl. & Zeyh.).

Tsugiya Murayama, Yoshito Eizuru, Rie Yamada, Hidetaka Sadanari, Keiko Matsubara, Geoffrey Rukung, Festus M Tolo, Geoffrey M Mungai, Mawuli Kofi-Tsekpo

Index: Antivir. Chem. Chemother. 18(3) , 133-9, (2007)

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Abstract

We examined the anticytomegalovirus properties of four compounds: pristimerin, the pristimerin analogue, lupeol and 2-acetylphenol-1-beta-D-glucopyranosyl (1 --> 6)-beta-D-xylpyranoside (acetophenol glycoside), isolated from Maytenus heterophylla, a Kenyan medicinal plant. The effects were studied on human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) replication in the human embryonic fibroblast cell line, MRC-5. In a viral plaque-reduction assay, pristimerin showed dose-dependent inhibitory properties with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 0.53 microg/ml (selective index = 27.9). The cells treated with pristimerin inhibited the cytopathic effects in HCMV-infected cells. Moreover, pristimerin suppressed viral replication without affecting the cell growth. Pristimerin inhibited the synthesis of viral DNA but had no virucidal effect on cell-free HCMV. Furthermore, Western blot analysis demonstrated that pristimerin decreased the amount of immediate early (IE) antigen (especially IE2) expression in the infected cells. These results suggest that pristimerin is a unique compound with potential anti-HCMV activity.