Hydroxyproline-containing collagen peptide derived from Alaska pollack skin inhibits HIV-1 infection

Abstract

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a lentivirus that causes the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Anti-HIV therapy involving chemical drugs has improved the life quality of HIV/AIDS patients. However, emergence of HIV drug resistance, side effects and the necessity for long-term anti-HIV treatment are the main reasons for failure of anti-HIV therapy. Therefore, it is essential to develop novel anti-HIV therapeutics from natural resources. We here show that a hydroxyproline-containing marine collagen peptide (APHCP) inhibits HIV-1 infection to human T cells MT4. APHCP has been derived from Alaska pollack skin and previously reported to have potent antioxidant activity. The APHCP exhibited the inhibitory activity on HIV-1IIIB-induced lytic effect (EC50, 0.403 mg/ml, 459μM), syncytia formation, viral p24 antigen production, and reverse transcriptase activity in MT4 cells. The anti-HIV activity was found to be specific against HIV-1 but not against HIV-2. Additionally, substitution of hydroxyproline residues in peptide by prolines resulted in decrease of its anti-HIV activity, suggesting that APHCP exhibits the anti-HIV-1 activity by scavenging intracellular reactive oxygen species generated during HIV-1 infection. These results suggest that marine peptide APHCP might be used as a drug candidate for the development of new generation therapeutic agents.