2011

Yih-Yih Kok, Wan-Loy Chu, Siew-Moi Phang, Shar Mariam Mohamed, Rakesh Naidu, Pey-Jiun Lai, Shui-Nyuk Ling, Joon-Wah Mak, Patricia Kim-Chooi Lim, Pauline Balraj and Alan Soo-Beng Khoo (2011). Inhibitory activities of microalgal extracts against Epstein-Barr virus DNA release from lymphoblastoid cells. Journal of Zhejiang University Science B 12(5): 335-345

This study aimed to assess the inhibitory activities of methanol extracts from the microalgae Ankistrodesmus convolutus, Synechococcus elongatus, and Spirulina platensis against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in three Burkitt’s lymphoma (BL) cell lines, namely Akata, B95-8, and P3HR-1. The antiviral activity was assessed by quantifying the cell-free EBV DNA using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The methanol extracts from Ankistrodesmus convolutus and Synechococcus elongatus displayed low cytotoxicity and potent effect in reducing cell-free EBV DNA (EC50<0.01 ?g/ml) with a high therapeutic index (>28000). After fractionation by column chromatography, the fraction from Synechococcus elongatus (SEF1) reduced the cell-free EBV DNA most effectively (EC50=2.9 ?g/ml, therapeutic index>69). Upon further fractionation by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the sub-fraction SEF1’a was most active in reducing the cell-free EBV DNA (EC50=1.38 ?g/ml, therapeutic index>14.5). This study suggests that microalgae could be a potential source of antiviral compounds that can be used against EBV.