Lignified materials as medicinal resources. VI. Anti-HIV activity of dehydrogenation polymer of p-coumaric acid, a synthetic lignin, in a quasi-in-vivo assay system as an intermediary step to clinical trials.

After the dehydrogenation polymer of p-coumaric acid, a synthetic lignin, was intravenously injected into mice, the serum was collected immediately, 15 min, 1 h, 5 h, and 24 h after the injection. The serum thus obtained was added to the assay medium containing MT-4 cells infected with HTLV-IIIB (an HIV-1 strain). Inhibition of the cytopathogenicity of HIV by these serum preparations was assayed by the MTT method. The result revealed that lignins could be a promising class of anti-HIV agents with an unidentified unique mode of action.