Antiviral Activity of Aspalathus linearis against Human Influenza Virus

Influenza A viruses are responsible for annual epidemics and occasional pandemics, which cause significant morbidity and mortality. The limited protection offered by influenza vaccination, and the emergence of drug-resistant influenza strains, highlight the urgent need for the development of novel a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Natural product communications Vol. 12; no. 4; p. 599
Main Authors:	Rahmasaria, Ratika, Haruyama, Takahiro, Charyasriwong, Siriwan, Nishida, Tomoki, Kobayashi, Nobuyuki
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States 01-04-2017
Subjects:	Antiviral Agents - pharmacology Aspalathus - chemistry Humans Influenza, Human - virology Orthomyxoviridae - drug effects Orthomyxoviridae - physiology Plant Extracts - pharmacology Virus Replication - drug effects
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Summary:	Influenza A viruses are responsible for annual epidemics and occasional pandemics, which cause significant morbidity and mortality. The limited protection offered by influenza vaccination, and the emergence of drug-resistant influenza strains, highlight the urgent need for the development of novel anti-influenza drugs. However, the search for antiviral substances from the library of low molecular weight chemical compounds is limited. Thus, because of their natural diversity and accessibility, plants or plant-derived materials are rapidly becoming valuable sources for the discovery and development of new antiviral drugs. In this study, crude extracts of Aspalathus linearis, a plant reported to have anti-HIV activity, were evaluated in vitro for their activity against the influenza A virus Of the extracts tested, an alkaline extract of Aspalathus linearis demonstrated the strongest inhibition against influenza A virus and could also inhibit different.types of influenza viruses, including Oseltamivir-resistant influenza viruses A and B. Our time course of addition studies indicated that the alkaline extract of Aspalathus linearis exerts its antiviral effect predominantly during the late stages of the influenza virus replication process.
ISSN:	1934-578X
DOI:	10.1177/1934578X1701200432