Carpenter S, Fehr M J, Kraus G A, Petrich J W
Department of Microbiology, Iowa State University, Ames 50011.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Dec 6;91(25):12273-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.25.12273.
Hypericin is a naturally occurring photosensitizer that displays potent antiviral activity in the presence of light. The absence of light in many regions of the body may preclude the use of hypericin and other photosensitizers as therapeutic compounds for the treatment of viral infections in vivo. The chemiluminescent oxidation of luciferin by the luciferase from the North American firefly Photinus pyralis was found to generate sufficiently intense and long-lived emission to induce antiviral activity of hypericin. Light-induced virucidal activity of hypericin was demonstrated against equine infectious anemia virus, a lentivirus structurally, genetically, and antigenically related to the human immunodeficiency virus. The implications for exploiting chemiluminescence as a "molecular flashlight" for effecting photodynamic therapy against virus-infected cells and tumor cells are discussed.
金丝桃素是一种天然存在的光敏剂，在光照条件下具有强大的抗病毒活性。身体许多部位缺乏光照可能会妨碍将金丝桃素和其他光敏剂用作体内治疗病毒感染的治疗性化合物。发现来自北美萤火虫Photinus pyralis的荧光素酶对荧光素的化学发光氧化产生足够强烈且持久的发射，以诱导金丝桃素的抗病毒活性。金丝桃素的光诱导杀病毒活性已在马传染性贫血病毒上得到证实，该慢病毒在结构、基因和抗原方面与人类免疫缺陷病毒相关。本文讨论了利用化学发光作为“分子手电筒”对病毒感染细胞和肿瘤细胞进行光动力治疗的意义。
