Research - Herpes Simplex Virus
Bee products and the treatment of blister-like lesions around the mouth, skin and genitalia caused by herpes viruses—A systematic review
KarstenMünstedt
Abstract
Objectives
To assess the value of bee products with respect to antiviral efficacy against herpes viruses.
Design
A systematic review was done using the JUSTfind System of the Justus-Liebig-University Gießen and Scopus.
Results
Three trials on honey and 6 trials on propolis were conducted. Each trial provided evidence that these two bee products are interesting alternatives to acyclovir, especially propolis, which was found to be superior to acyclovir in 4 trials.
Conclusions
The evidence from these trials suggests that propolis is the best of all natural possibilities in the treatment of herpetic skin lesions, especially those related to HSV-1. Future studies should analyse if propolis could be an adjunct to treatment with acyclovir. For lesions in the oral cavity, honey could be an interesting alternative.
Source : Journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine
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Inhibitory effect of essential oils against herpes simplex virus type 2.
Abstract
Essential oils from anise, hyssop, thyme, ginger, camomile and sandalwood were screened for their inhibitory effect against herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) in vitro on RC-37 cells using a plaque reduction assay. Genital herpes is a chronic, persistent infection spreading efficiently and silently as sexually transmitted disease through the population. Antiviral agents currently applied for the treatment of herpesvirus infections include acyclovir and its derivatives. The inhibitory concentrations ([IC.sub.50]) were determined at 0.016%, 0.0075%, 0.007%, 0.004%, 0.003% and 0.0015% for anise oil, hyssop oil, thyme oil, ginger oil, camomile oil and sandalwood oil, respectively. A clearly dose-dependent virucidal activity against HSV-2 could be demonstrated for all essential oils tested. In order to determine the mode of the inhibitory effect, essential oils were added at different stages during the viral infection cycle. At maximum noncytotoxic concentrations of the essential oils, plaque formation was significantly reduced by more than 90% when HSV-2 was preincubated with hyssop oil, thyme oil or ginger oil. However, no inhibitory effect could be observed when the essential oils were added to the cells prior to infection with HSV-2 or after the adsorption period. These results indicate that essential oils affected HSV-2 mainly before adsorption probably by interacting with the viral envelope. Camomile oil exhibited a high selectivity index and seems to be a promising candidate for topical therapeutic application as virucidal agents for treatment of herpes genitalis.
Source : International Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology
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Pentacyclic triterpenes in birch bark extract inhibit early step of herpes simplex virus type 1 replication
M. Heidary Navid,.N. Laszczyk-Lauer, Reichling,. Schnitzler
Abstract
Antiviral agents frequently applied for treatment of herpesvirus infections include acyclovir and its derivatives. The antiviral effect of a triterpene extract of birch bark and its major pentacyclic triterpenes, i.e. betulin, lupeol and betulinic acid against acyclovir-sensitive and acyclovir-resistant HSV type 1 strains was examined. The cytotoxic effect of a phytochemically defined birch bark triterpene extract (TE) as well as different pentacyclic triterpenes was analyzed in cell culture, and revealed a moderate cytotoxicity on RC-37 cells. TE, betulin, lupeol and betulinic acid exhibited high levels of antiviral activity against HSV-1 in viral suspension tests with IC50 values ranging between 0.2 and 0.5μg/ml. Infectivity of acyclovir-sensitive and clinical isolates of acyclovir-resistant HSV-1 strains was significantly reduced by all tested compounds and a direct concentration- and time-dependent antiherpetic activity could be demonstrated. In order to determine the mode of antiviral action, TE and the compounds were added at different times during the viral infection cycle. Addition of these drugs to uninfected cells prior to infection or to herpesvirus-infected cells during intracellular replication had low effect on virus multiplication. Minor virucidal activity of triterpenes was observed, however both TE and tested compounds exhibited high anti-herpetic activity when viruses were pretreated with these drugs prior to infection. Pentacyclic triterpenes inhibit acyclovir-sensitive and acyclovir-resistant clinical isolates of HSV-1 in the early phase of infection.
Source : Intl Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology
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Effect of black tea extract on herpes simplex virus-1 infection of cultured cells
Anthony Cantatore, Sade D Randall, Daniel Traum and Sandra D Adam
Abstract
Background:
The purpose of this investigation was to determine if black tea extract (BTE), consisting primarily of flavanol compounds called theaflavins, could inhibit herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) infection in cultured A549(human epithelial) and Vero cells.
Methods:
The effect of BTE both on A549 and Vero cultured cells and on HSV-1 was assessed by using phase contrast and fluorescent microscopy, and cell viability and proliferation assays. After establishing the maximumnon-cytotoxic concentration of BTE, A549 and Vero cells and HSV-1 virions were treated with varying concentrations of BTE, respectively. A549 and Vero cells were infected with HSV-1 with green fluorescent protein (GFP) insert at the UL46 gene. The effect of infectivity was determined by viral DNA extraction followed by PCR, plaque assays,adsorption assays, and electrophoresis of PCR products.
Results:
BTE was not cytotoxic to A549 and Vero cells, as confirmed by cell viability and proliferation assays, in which BTE treated groups paralleled the positive control group. For both cell lines, plaque assays and fluorescent microscopy indicated an inverse relationship between BTE concentration (from 0.14μM–1.4 mM) and HSV-1 infectivity. Specifically, PCR and electrophoresis showed a reduction in the viral genome following treatment with BTE. In addition, there was a noticeable decrease in the amount of viral plaques for BTE treated samples in the adsorption assays.
Conclusions:
BTE consisting primarily of theaflavins is not cytotoxic and can reduce or block the production of infectious HSV-1 virions in cultured A549 and Vero cells, thus inhibiting the infectivity of the virus by interfering in the attachment, penetration and viral DNA replication of HSV-1 particles. These findings indicate that BTE enriched with theaflavins has the potential to be developed as a safe, therapeutic antiviral agent to prevent the spread of HSV-1
Source : BMC - Complementary and Alternative Medicine
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Inhibitory effect of essential oils against herpes simplex virus type 2
C. Kocha,b, J. Reichlingb, J. Schneeleb, P. Schnitzlera,
aDepartment of Virology, Hygiene Institute, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
bDepartment of Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Abstract
Essential oils from anise, hyssop, thyme, ginger, camomile and sandalwood were screened for their inhibitory effect
against herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) in vitro on RC-37 cells using a plaque reduction assay. Genital herpes is a
chronic, persistent infection spreading efficiently and silently as sexually transmitted disease through the population.
Antiviral agents currently applied for the treatment of herpesvirus infections include acyclovir and its derivatives. The
inhibitory concentrations (IC50) were determined at 0.016%, 0.0075%, 0.007%, 0.004%, 0.003% and 0.0015% for
anise oil, hyssop oil, thyme oil, ginger oil, camomile oil and sandalwood oil, respectively. A clearly dose-dependent
virucidal activity against HSV-2 could be demonstrated for all essential oils tested. In order to determine the mode of
the inhibitory effect, essential oils were added at different stages during the viral infection cycle. At maximum
noncytotoxic concentrations of the essential oils, plaque formation was significantly reduced by more than 90% when
HSV-2 was preincubated with hyssop oil, thyme oil or ginger oil. However, no inhibitory effect could be observed
when the essential oils were added to the cells prior to infection with HSV-2 or after the adsorption period. These
results indicate that essential oils affected HSV-2 mainly before adsorption probably by interacting with the viral
envelope. Camomile oil exhibited a high selectivity index and seems to be a promising candidate for topical therapeutic
application as virucidal agents for treatment of herpes genitalis.
Source : Phytomedicine
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Comparative in vitro study on the anti-herpetic effect of phytochemically characterized aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Salvia officinalis grown at two different locations.
Schnitzler P, Nolkemper S, Stintzing FC, Reichling J.
Department of Virology, Hygiene Institute, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Abstract
Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Salvia officinalis (Lamiaceae) from two different locations (Garden and Swabian Mountains) were examined in vitro on RC-37 cells for their antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) using a plaque reduction assay. The 50% inhibitory concentrations ([IC.sub.50]) of the extracts for HSV plaque formation were determined in dose-response studies. All extracts tested revealed a high virucidal activity against free HSV-1 and HSV-2. The experimental data exhibited a significant higher sensitivity of HSV against the extracts derived from Garden in comparison with those from Swabian Mountains. The most active one was the Garden 20% ethanol extract with [IC.sub.50] values of 0.18 [micro]g/ml for HSV-1 and 0.04 [micro]g/ml for HSV-2. In order to identify the mode of antiviral action, the extracts were added to the host cells (RC-37) or viruses at different stages of infection. Independently of the location, both types of herpes viruses were considerably inactivated after treatment with the extracts prior to cell infection. Plaque formation was significantly reduced by >90% for HSV-1 and by >99% for HSV-2. Pretreatment of the host cells with both Garden and Swabian Mountains 20% and 40% ethanolic extracts prior to virus infection revealed a strong reduction of HSV-2 plaque formation by 94% and 70% (Garden) and 99% and 45% (Swabian Mountains), respectively. In time-activity studies with free HSV-1 over a period of 2 h, a clearly time-dependent activity was demonstrated whereby the ethanolic extracts of both locations revealed a much higher activity than the aqueous ones. The 20% ethanolic extracts of both locations are of special interest and were effective when added to host cells and free virus. A topical application with a dual mode of action would be ideal against recurrent herpes infections.
Source : Phytomedicine. 2008 Jan;15(1-2):62-70
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