Antiviral Activities of Artemisinin, Artesunate
By Linda on Dec 16, 2009 in Infections
Traditional Chinese medicine commands a unique position among all traditional medicines because of its 5000 years of history. Our own interest in natural products from traditional Chinese medicine was triggered in the 1990s, by artemisinin‐type sesquiterpene lactones from Artemisia annua L. As demonstrated in recent years, this class of compounds has activity against malaria, cancer cells, and schistosomiasis. Interestingly, the bioactivity of artemisinin and its semisynthetic derivative artesunate is even broader and includes the inhibition of certain viruses, such as human cytomegalovirus and other members of the Herpesviridae family (e.g., herpes simplex virus type 1 and Epstein‐Barr virus), hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and bovine viral diarrhea virus. Analysis of the complete profile of the pharmacological activities and molecular modes of action of artemisinin and artesunate and their performance in clinical trials will further elucidate the full antimicrobial potential of these versatile pharmacological tools from nature.
The Antiviral Activities of Artemisinin and Artesunate
1German Cancer Research Center, Pharmaceutical Biology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, Heidelberg, and 2Virological Institute of the University Hospital Erlangen, Clinical and Molecular Virology, University of Erlangen, Nuremberg, Germany; 3Medical Research Council Clinical Science Center, Hammersmith Campus, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom; 4Hadassah University Hospital, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Jerusalem, Israel; and 5University of Salamanca, Laboratory of Experimental Hepatology and Drug Targeting, CIOBERehd, Salamanca, Spain
Received 4 February 2008; accepted 10 May 2008; electronically published 12 August 2008.
