Identification of anti-HIV and anti-Reverse Transcriptase activity from Tetracera scandens

We report here that an ethanol extract of Tetracera scandens, a Vietnamese medicinal plant, has anti-HIV activity and possesses strong inhibitory activity against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RTase). Using a MT-4 cell-based assay, we found that the T. scandens extract inhibited effectively HIV virus replication with an $IC_{50}$ value in the range of 2.0-2.5 ${\mu}g$/ml while the cellular toxicity value (CC50) was more than 40-50 ${\mu}g$/ml concentration, thus yielding a minimum specificity index of 20-fold. Moreover, the anti-HIV efficacy of the T. scandens extract was determined to be due, in part, to its potent inhibitory activity against HIV-1 RTase activity in vitro. The inhibitory activity against the RTase was further confirmed by probing viral cDNA production, an intermediate of viral reverse transcription, in virus-infected cells using quantitative DNA-PCR analysis. Thus, these results suggest that T. scandens can be a useful source for the isolation and development of new anti-HIV-1 inhibitor(s).