AEGiS-GMHC: Common Alternative Therapies: Prunellin

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Common Alternative Therapies: Prunellin

Gay Men's Health Crisis: Treatment Issues, Volume 7 no. 11/12 - Winter, 1993/94
Bree Scott-Hartland

In 1989 researchers from the University of California, Davis, isolated the active component of the herb Prunella vulgaris and named it "Prunellin."[1] The herb is a member of the family "Labiatae", which is commonly known as "Self-heal" and was once used to treat cuts and wounds.

Test tube studies with Prunellin blocked cell-to-cell transmission of HIV. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showed in vitro that cells exposed to HIV in the presence of Prunellin remained completely uninfected. Researchers from Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research suggested that Prunellin exerted an anti-HIV effect by preventing the virus from binding to cells.

Other in vitro studies suggested that Prunellin also inhibited reverse transcriptase because of its content of anionic polysaccharides that are know to inhibit reverse transcripase in such drugs as heparin.[2]

1. Tabba H.D, et al. Antiviral Research, 989; 11:263-73.

2. Henderson CW. AIDS Therapies. 1993.

Copyright (c) 1993 - Gay Men's Health Crisis. All rights reserved. Noncommercial reproduction is encouraged.
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Copyright © 1993 - Treatment Issues. Reproduced with permission. Treatment Issues is published twelve times yearly by GMHC, Inc. All rights reserved. Noncommercial reproduction is encouraged. Subscription lists are kept confidential. GMHC Treatment Issues, The Tisch Building, 119 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011 fredg@gmhc.org http://www.gmhc.org

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