Discovery of an anti-HIV active substance from Wikstroemia lamatsoensis

It is expected that further research could potentially lead to the discovery of new drugs with superior anti-HIV activity for HIV treatment. These results were published on August 17, 2021 in the Journal of Natural Products, a journal of the American Chemical Society. The result was selected as the cover illustration for the issue.

Left: First Author Ms. Mi Zhang,
Right: Prof. Wei Li

A research group led by Professor Wei Li of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toho University, in international collaboration with Shenyang Pharmaceutical University in China, Duke University Medical Center and University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the United States, discovered for the first time that Wikstroemia lamatsoensis contains a substance inhibiting replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

It is expected that further research could potentially lead to the discovery of new drugs with superior anti-HIV activity for HIV treatment. These results were published on August 17, 2021 in the Journal of Natural Products, a journal of the American Chemical Society. The result was selected as the cover illustration for the issue.

Main points of the presentation

It was found that Wikstroemia lamatsoensis contains tigliane-type diterpenoids, which the research group clarified to have strong anti-HIV activity.
They reported for the first time that W. lamatsoensis, which has never been studied before, contains anti-HIV active substances.
In the future, further study of the bioactive diterpenoids contained in Wikstroemia species is expected to contribute to the discovery of new drugs for HIV infection.

Outline of presentation
The Thymelaeaceae family consists of about 50 genera and more than 800 species widely distributed throughout the world except in the arctic zone. Plants in this family contain characteristic tigliane and daphnane diterpenoids, which have excellent anti-cancer and anti-HIV biological activities. There are about 70 species of plants in the genus Wikstroemia, but only a few of them have been studied and even less research were done on diterpenoids.
In this study, the research team identified a total of eight diterpenoids, including two new compounds, from W. lamatsoensis and clarified that they possess anti-HIV activities. These findings are expected to lead to the identification of further biologically active diterpenoids in Wikstroemia and discovery of new seeds for the treatment of HIV infection.

Journal of Natural Products, August 17, 2021, Vol. 84, No. 8, 2366-2373

Title of paper: LC-MS Identification, Isolation, and Structural Elucidation of Anti-HIV Tigliane Diterpenoids from Wikstroemia lamatsoensis

Authors： Mi Zhang, Kouharu Otsuki, Takashi Kikuchi, Zi-Song Bai, Di Zhou, Li Huang, Chin-Ho Chen, Susan L. Morris-Natschke, Kuo-Hsiung Lee, Ning Li*, Kazuo Koike, Wei Li*

DOI No.: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00570

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