Abstract
BackgroundDespite the continuous shedding of HIV infected blood into the oral cavity and the detectable presence of the AIDS virus at a high frequency, human saliva is reported to inhibit oral transmission of HIV through kissing, dental treatment, biting, and aerosolization. The purpose of this study was to purify salivary MUC5B and MUC7 mucins from crude saliva and determine their anti-HIV-1 activities.MethodsFollowing Sepharose CL-4B column chromatography and caesium chloride isopycnic density-gradient ultra-centrifugation, the purity and identity of the mucins was determined by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting analysis respectively. Subsequently an HIV-1 inhibition assay was carried out to determine the anti-HIV-1 activity of the crude saliva and purified salivary mucins by incubating them with subtype D HIV-1 prior to infection of the CD4+ CEM SS cells.ResultsWestern blotting analysis confirmed that the mucin in the void volume is MUC5B and the mucin in the included volume is MUC7. The HIV inhibition assay revealed that both the crude saliva and salivary MUC5B and MUC7 mucins inhibited HIV-1 activity by 100%.ConclusionAlthough the mechanism of action is not clear the carbohydrate moieties of the salivary mucins may trap or aggregate the virus and prevent host cell entry.
Highlights
Despite the continuous shedding of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected blood into the oral cavity and the detectable presence of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus at a high frequency, human saliva is reported to inhibit oral transmission of HIV through kissing, dental treatment, biting, and aerosolization
It has been reported that there is a continuous shedding of HIV infected blood into the oral cavity from mucosal and gingival lesions in HIV-infected patients, resulting in the detectable presence of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus at a high frequency in the oral cavity [2,3,4,5,6]
We have shown that both crude saliva and purified MUC5B and MUC7 mucins inhibit HIV-1 activity by 100% in the range from 900 μg to 0.09 μg mucin concentration
Summary
Despite the continuous shedding of HIV infected blood into the oral cavity and the detectable presence of the AIDS virus at a high frequency, human saliva is reported to inhibit oral transmission of HIV through kissing, dental treatment, biting, and aerosolization. The purpose of this study was to purify salivary MUC5B and MUC7 mucins from crude saliva and determine their anti-HIV-1 activities. Extensive studies have been carried out after the initial findings of Fultz [1] that human saliva inhibited the activity of the AIDS virus [8,15,16] These studies showed that the anti-HIV activity appeared to be highest in sub-mandibular secretions and whole saliva rather than parotid secretions [2,3,11,17,18,19]. The aim of this study was to isolate and purify these mucins in the saliva and to determine their anti-HIV-1 activity individually
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
