A NATURAL ANTIVIRAL AND IMMUNOMODULATORY COMPOUND WITH ANTIANGIOGENIC PROPERTIES

CARLOS BUENO; MARÍA GABRIELA LOMBARDI; MARÍA ELENA SALES; LAURA E. ALCHÉ

MICROVASCULAR RESEARCH

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Año: 2012 vol. 84 p. 235 - 241

0026-2862

Meliacine (MA), an antiviral principle present in partially purified leaf extractsof Melia azedarach L., reduces viral load and abolishes the inflammatory reaction andneovascularization during the development of herpetic stromal keratitis in mice. 1-cinnamoyl-3,11-dihydroxymeliacarpin (CDM), obtained from MA, displays antiherpeticand immunomodulatory activities in vitro. We investigated whether CDMinterferes with the angiogenic process.CDM impeded VEGF transcription in LPS-stimulated and HSV-1-infected cells.It proved to have neither cytotoxic nor antiproliferative effect in HUVEC and to restrainHUVEC migration and formation of capillary-like tubes. Moreover, MA inhibitsLMM3 tumor-induced neovascularization in vivo.We postulate that the antiangiogenic activity of CDM displayed in vitro as aconsequence of their immunomodulatory properties is responsible for theantiangiogenic activity of MA in vivo, which would be associated with the lack ofneovascularization in murine HSV-1-induced ocular disease.