Anti-HIV-1 activity of sulfated amphotericin B in vitro.

To reduce the toxicity of amphotericin B methyl ester (AME), which shows some anti-HIV-1 activity, sulfated amphotericin B (SAB) was prepared from amphotericin B (AB), and its anti-HIV-1 activity was examined in vitro. SAB at concentration of 7.8 micrograms/ml completely suppressed the HIV-1-induced cytopathic effect in MT-4 cells, at 3.9 micrograms/ml inhibited the expression of HIV-1 antigen in peripheral blood mononuclear cells infected with freshly isolated HIV-1 and at 22 micrograms/ml completely suppressed formation of giant cells in cocultures of MOLT-4 with MOLT-4/HIV-1 cells. Reverse transcriptase activity was inhibited by SAB, but only at higher concentrations (0.2-1 mg/ml). Furthermore, the toxicity of SAB was lower than that of AME or AB, and SAB did not affect the proliferation of MT-4 cells at concentrations up to 0.5 mg/ml. The anti-coagulant effect of SAB was 10-fold less than that of dextran sulfate (MW = 8000). The anti-HIV-1 effect of SAB is attributed to inhibition of binding of virions to target cells.