Grouppe Kurosawa: Natural Medicine - Topically Applied Anti-Viral Agents (print)

Topically Applied Anti-Viral Agents

The introduction of compounds with medicinal properties into the body via the skin is an extremely important technology and an inexpensive method to controlling the spread of infectious diseases. Many anti-viral agents have been identified in medicinal plants, but they cannot be readily turned into pharmaceutical products. The usual reason concerns “bioavailability”, the uptake and stability of the product in the blood. The transdermal technology developed by Grouppe Kurosawa solves many of these problems. To cite an example, many alpha glucosidase inhibitors, the very same ones used to block the uptake of sucrose or starches from the intestines, also block the ability of infected cells to secret intact HIV virus, hepatitis B/C virus, herpes virus, and influenza virus, to cite a few examples. Alpha glucosidase inhibitors also block the ability of papilloma virus to cause genital warts and cervical cancer. These inhibitors are potentially very powerful anti-viral and anti-cancer agents. Most viral proteins have carbohydrate added to them when they are synthesized in infected cells. In the movement of viral proteins through the different organelles in the cell, this carbohydrate is trimmed back by alpha glucosidase enzymes. If this process does not occur, the virus particles cannot form correctly. Ever see someone with a large amount of hair try to stuff it all under a small hat? Same principle. A haircut would help tremendously. In the confines of the human cell, the haircut is performed by alpha glucosidase enzymes. If these enzymes are inhibited, the viral proteins contain too much “hair” to fit together correctly. We want to develop a simple cream that can introduce alpha glucosidase inhibitors and other natural molecules into the skin to block the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and influenza. If these products worked in animals, and the scientific literature says they DO work, the anti-viral alpha-glucosidase inhibitors would have to undergo FDA regulated clinical trials. Considering the human suffering sexually transmitted diseases and influenza cause, developing this formulation into a topical anti-viral agent is worth pursuing.

A final note about HIV infections, the destroyer of worlds. In the laboratory, the HIV virus becomes non-infectious if the HIV infected cells are treated with alpha glucosidases inhibitors. One inhibitor (not the one we used) was clinically tested on HIV infected people. The inhibitor was orally taken in large concentrations, but it made the subjects sick. The study was stopped because the inhibitor was too toxic when given in large concentrations. Again, the problem is bioavailability of the alpha glucosidase inhibitors. Although the design of the clinical trial may have been flawed, we seriously doubt that the scientific community will ever again study the use of alpha glucosidase inhibitors as HIV treatments. Pharmaceutical companies don’t work on anything that cannot be patented and they conduct most of the clinical trials. Speculations on the use of alpha glucosidase inhibitors as blockers of HIV infection have been around since the mid-1980s. It is not a new idea. The clinical trial that was conducted was performed by medical doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital. It wasn’t conducted by Big Pharma. In the mind set of the medical and academic profession, these inhibitors don’t work in the body to block HIV infections. But they do block the infectivity of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and a host of animal viruses in the body. What is wrong with the HIV model?

The problem with alpha glucosidase inhibitors may not lie with the molecules themselves, but the method by which they were introduced into the body. If we can introduce the blockers directly into the skin rather than orally through the stomach and intestines, low, non-toxic doses may be effective in blocking the production of infectious virus. Upon crossing the epidermal layer, the compounds find themselves in the lymph fluid that bathes each cell in the body. The lymph flows to the lymph nodes, the sites in the body that harbor most of the HIV virus. Inhibitors that are orally consumed may never enter the lymph nodes, hence their lack of effectiveness. Hepatitis B/C viruses are found in the liver, an organ highly perfused with blood vessels that pick up nutrients from the intestines. This is speculation, but the location of the virus in the body may play a significant role in determining the efficacy of orally introduced compounds. Compounds introduced through the skin will circulate throughout the entire body, and will be medically effective even in comparatively low doses. We intend to test topically applied alpha glucosidase inhibitors on naturally infected FIV (feline AIDS virus) cats and some new strains of rats and mice that can be infected with the HIV virus. We will conduct similar studies on hepatitis B,C and herpes simplex 1,2 infected animals. A lotion that blocks the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is an international public health priority. The US government is willing to test these compounds at no or very little cost to Grouppe Kurosawa and its affiliates.