Inhibition of HIV-1 Replication by Balsamin, a Ribosome Inactivating Protein of Momordica balsamina

Inderdeep Kaur, Munish Puri, Zahra Ahmed, Fabien P. Blanchet, Bastien Mangeat, Vincent Piguet

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)
2 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are endowed with several medicinal properties, including antiviral activity. We demonstrate here that the recently identified type I RIP from Momordica balsamina also possesses antiviral activity, as determined by viral growth curve assays and single-round infection experiments. Importantly, this activity is at play even as doses where the RIP has no cytotoxic effect. In addition, balsamin inhibits HIV-1 replication not only in T cell lines but also in human primary CD4+ T cells. This antiviral compound exerts its activity at a viral replicative step occurring later than reverse-transcription, most likely on viral protein translation, prior to viral budding and release. Finally, we demonstrate that balsamin antiviral activity is broad since it also impedes influenza virus replication. Altogether our results demonstrate that type I RIP can exert a potent anti-HIV-1 activity which paves the way for new therapeutic avenues for the treatment of viral infections.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere73780
Number of pages9
JournalPLoS One
Volume8
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Sept 2013
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Inhibition of HIV-1 Replication by Balsamin, a Ribosome Inactivating Protein of Momordica balsamina'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this