Anti-retroviral effect of chlorophyll derivatives (CpD-D) by photosensitization

A new photosensitizer, CpD(chlorophyll derivatives), previously reported as a promising agent for tumor therapy, was studied to determine its inhibitory effects on Gross leukemia virus(GLV), a mouse retrovirus isolated from the GLV-producing TGV cell line, and the cytocidal effect on the GLV infected cells in vitro, following photodynamic treatment with CpD-D and red light, the viral inactivation and infectivity were examined by measuring the reverse transcriptase(RT) activity of the virus itself and that in cell-free culture supernatant of freshly GLV-infected secondary mouse embryo cells respectively. The cytocidal activity was measured by trypan blue exclusion test. Inhibition of GLV associated RT activity resulted from CpD-D and red light treatment. The RT inhibition effect was immediate and the infectivity of these photodynamically treated GLV to mouse embryo cells was also inhibited. However, specific cytotoxicity of GLV infected cells was not found. Thus, it is concluded that CpD-D may be used as an effective antiviral agent.