Statements from Researchers
About the Anti-Viral Efficacy of Humic Acid
Note:
The term (Humic Acid) or (Humic Acids) has been substituted in the following
statements where the original wording was in scientific terms that detailed chemical compositions of Humic
Acid.
HEMORRHAGIC FEVER
VIRUSES
"As shown, the (Humic Acids) exhibited substantial
efficacy against both hemorrhagic fever viruses….natural-product HA (Humic Acid) particularly so against Punta Toro
A virus."
National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the auspices of
the National Institutes of Health, August 2001 - January 2002
HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPES I AND
II
"It is therefore concluded that it is possible to
test the anti-viral effects of all four (Humic Acid) compounds up to 500 ug/mL without any drug-related
cytotoxicity." "Furthermore, three series of experiments were designed to explore the potential mechanisms of
action. The first series of experiments demonstrated that all four compounds (of Humic Acid) can inactivate both
HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections with different anti-viral activities. The second series of experiments demonstrated that
the compounds (of Humic Acid) can protect cells against HSV-1 and HSV-2 infection. The third series of experiments
demonstrated that the compounds (of Humic Acid) can interfere with the proliferation of HSV-1 and HSV-2 after the
virus enters the cells."
Meeta Patnaik, M.D., Senior Research Scientist
Hun-Chi Lin, PhD, Director, Clinical Trials
Specialty Laboratories, Santa Monica, CA, August 1998
HIV-1
"…the ability to inhibit the replication of wild-type
strains (of HIV-1) is an obvious (and, arguably, the most important) prerequisite in order that any HIV-1 drug be
considered useful. The results obtained to date have shown that (natural) Humic Acid as well as synthetic humic
acid(s) do, in fact, inhibit the replication of HIV-1 wild-type strains, in addition to assaulting in a unique way
the intracellular replicative events of the virus."
"It was found in this work that both synthetic as
well as naturally-occurring humic substances extracted from soil are in fact capable of inhibiting HIV-1
replication."
Research team at USC School of Medicine, January, 1998.
"The Humates are potent inhibitors of acute HIV
infection in antiviral evaluation models. The present studies point to an antiviral target occurring before
proviral integration, possibly involving virus attachment and entry." "We were able to confirm antiviral activity
for the Humates and define their potential antiviral target to the pre-integration phase of HIV replication,
providing preliminary data that a portion of the antiviral activity is due to inhibition of virus
attachment."
Jim A. Turpin Ph.D., Manager Retrovirus Research Laboratory
Tracy Loftus, Supervisor Retrovirus Research Laboratory
Southern Research Institute, September, 2000
"(Humic Acid) inhibited HIV-1 infection of MT-2 cells
with an IC(50) of 12.5 microg/ml. Treatment of free and cell-attached HIV with (Humic Acid) irreversibly reduced
infectivity, while the susceptibility of target cells to the virus was not impaired by treatment prior to
infection. The infectivity of the HIV particles was inhibited by interference with CD4 binding and the V3
loop-mediated step of virus entry. No viral resistance to (Humic Acid) developed over a 12-week period in vitro.
(Humic Acid) therefore holds promise for the treatment of HIV-infected patients."
van Rensburg CE, Department of Pharmacology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South
Africa; Dekker J, Enerkom (Pty) Ltd, Pretoria, South Africa; Weis R, Smith TL, Janse van Rensburg E, Schneider
J.
"Humic acids are natural constituents of soil and
ground water and mainly consist of mixtures of polycyclic phenolic compounds. (Humic Acid) inhibited HIV-1
infection of MT-2 cells with an IC50 of 50-300 ng/ml. Inhibition of HIV-induced syncytium formation was observed at
10-50 micrograms/ml. Treatment of free and cell-attached HIV with (Humic Acid) irreversibly reduced its
infectivity. (Humic Acid) interfered with the CD4-induced proteolytic cleavage of the V3 loop of virion gp120SU.
Furthermore, binding of V3 loop-specific antibodies was irreversibly inhibited, whereas binding of soluble CD4 to
gp120SU on virus and infected cells was not affected. In conclusion, our data suggest, that the (Humic Acid)
inhibits the infectivity of HIV particles by interference with a V3 loop-mediated step of virus entry."
Schneider J, Weis R, Manner C, Kary B, Werner A, Seubert BJ, Riede UN.
Abteilung Virologie, Institut fur Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene der
Universitat, Freiburg, Germany.
"The anti-HIV-1 activity of the new humic acid
derivative has been determined in vitro, and the serial passages at low concentrations have been performed to
investigate the emergence of resistance to this drug candidate."
"Our investigations were performed to find perspective compounds and their
combinations to employ them in topical microbicides which possess the ability to block the HIV transmission on
different stages of virus cell interaction. We have studied original compounds from different groups: sulfated
chitosanes, humic acids and plant polyphenol derivatives."
"The ED50 values of the humic acid derivatives against HIV-1 laboratory strain and
HIV-1 M-tropic AZT-resistant wild-type strain were 0.85 and 3.5 mg/ml respectively, without appearance of any
detectible resistance."
"The new humic acid derivative is an effective inhibitor of various HIV strains.
According to our data, this compound disorders HIV replication and yields defective un-infectious
virions."
Edward Karamov PhD, Director of Immunochemistry Group, Ivanovsky Inst. of Virology,
Moscow, Russia
INFLUENZA VIRUSES
"…natural-product humate(s) (Humic Acid) were found
to be quite effective against all three influenza viruses."
National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the auspices of
the National Institutes of Health, August 2001 - January 2002
Humic Acid inhibits the in-vitro replication of
influenza virus A/WSN/33 (H1N1) in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells at concentrations of no cytotoxicity. The
IC50 for Humic Acid was 48.61 +/- 7.32 microg/ml and 55.27 +/- 5.46 microg/ml respectively when the compound was
added at the stage of viral adsorption or post-adsorption. Humic acid inhibits the endonuclease activity of viral
RNA polymerase.
Lu FJ, Tseng SN, Li ML, Shih SR.
Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University,
Taipei.
TOXICITY
"For each sample, three concentrations of test
article (Humic Acid) were prepared… and each injected into the tail veins of 10 Swiss Webster mice… at dose levels
of 50 mg/kg of body weight, 25 mg/kg, and 12.5 mg/kg… the mice were examined for symptoms of toxicity for 14 days.
All animals survived the test, and in my opinion, the clinical observations made were not indicative of
toxicity."
Richard Schlesinger, Ph.D., D.A.B.F.T.
BioScreen Testing Services, Inc., Torrance, CA, August 1998
"All (Humic Acids) evaluated were not cytotoxic at
levels at least as high as 100 mg/mL…"
National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the auspices of
the National Institutes of Health, August 2001 - January 2002
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