Antiviral activity
MAP30 (Momordica anti-HIV protein of 30 kDa), isolated from the plant
material, is capable of inhibiting infection of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) in
T lymphocytes and monocytes as well as replication of the virus in infected
cells. An investigation of the effect of MAP30 on HIV-1 integrase
suggests that the protein exhibits a dose-dependent inhibition of HIV-1
integrase. In the presence of 20 ng of viral substrate, 50 ng of target substrate,
and 4 μM integrase, total inhibition was achieved at equimolar concentrations
of the integrase and the antiviral proteins, with a median effective
concentration of 1 μM (45).
A protein (MRK29), isolated from the fruit and seed, inhibited HIV-1
reverse transcriptase by 50% at a concentration of 18 μg/ml. MRK29, at a
concentration of 0.175 μg/ml, reduced viral core protein, p24, expression
in HIV-infected cells by 82%. MRK29 also produced a 3-fold increase in
tumour necrosis factor activity