Anti-HIV activity of olive leaf extract and its interactions with HAART drugs

Abstract

We investigated the anti-HIV activity of olive leaf extract (OLE) and its interactions with HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) drugs using LC-MS (liquid chromatography-coupled mass spectrometry) standardized OLE. Our results demonstrate that OLE inhibits HIV-1 infection and replication as assayed by syncytium formation and p24 expression respectively. The anti-HIV effect of OLE is dose dependent with EC(50)s of 0.2 to 0.3 mug/ml. In the effective dose range, no cytotoxicity on uninfected target cells was detected. OLE exhibits synergistic interactions with both AZT and 3TC in combination assays. cDNA microarray analysis indicates that HIV-1 infection and OLE treatment modulate the expression of host genes.