T. Yoshida, Y. Yasuda, T. Mimura
Oct 23, 1995
Citations
0
Influential Citations
82
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Carbohydrate research
Abstract
Nucleoside analogues such as azidothymidine (AZT), dideoxyinosine (ddI), and dideoxycytidine (ddC) [1] inhibit the viral reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and terminate DNA chain synthesis from viral RNA inside the infected cells. However, these nucleosides manifest serious side-effects such as bonemarrow toxicity and the appearance of AZT-resistant viruses upon long-term treatment [2]. It is difficult to make an effective vaccine owing to the multiplicity of AIDS viruses. Therefore, anti-AIDS compounds having a different blocking mechanism are of interest. We have synthesized sulfated polysaccharides demonstrating high anti-AIDS virus activity by sulfation of synthetic and natural-occurring polysaccharides [3-6]. The mechanism of action of sulfated polysaccharides is assumed to be different from that of the nucleosides, that is, they bind to HIV virions and prevent them from penetrating into target cells [7-9]. However, sulfated polysaccharides such as dextran sulfate have high blood anticoagulant activity, leading to undesirable side-effects when used as anti-AIDS drugs [10].