flavopereirine has the chemical formula ## str1 ## for use in the present invention , flavopereirine may be prepared by the hydrolysis in 1n hcl of geissospermum vellosii powder at 100 ° c ., followed by neutralization by koh , extraction by ethanol and concentration by distillation . the residue of the distillation is subsequently taken up in chloroform , the excess salt is eliminated by precipitation with cold ethanol , and the residue , which contains mainly flavopereirine is concentrated . for purposes of the present invention , the flavopereirine may be used as produced by this process , or can be converted to a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or other derivative . in accordance with the invention , flavopereirine is administered orally in the forms of capsules to patients infected with hiv at levels of 1 - 3 grams per day . at this level , flavopereirine is devoid of toxic or side effects in mammals , including humans . indeed , the ld 50 in sprague - dawley eops rats is 10 . 45 g / kg ( safety limits : 9 . 63 - 11 . 35 ) when administered orally , and 2 . 45 g / kg ( safety limits : 2 . 35 - 2 . 55 ) when administered intraperitoneally . in determining these values , when the animal died , it died within 30 to 60 minutes of oral or intraperitoneal administration by respiratory arrest . no change in mortality rate was observed during the subsequent 14 days in surviving animals . sub - chronic administration in male and female sprague - dawley rats ( opa ) demonstrated the absence of toxicity in doses equal to 1 / 20 of the ld 50 ( viz . 530 mg / kg / day ), or of 1 / 5 of the ld 50 ( viz . 2120 mg / kg / day ). at these doses , no alterations were noted in either body weight or feeding . neither was any alteration in the globular blood count noted , and a hepatic and renal functions remained normal . no lesions of the liver , kidneys , duodenum , myocardia , spleen , thyroid and parathyroid glands , testicles or ovaries were visible by microscope . flavopereirine was observed to penetrate the blood - brain barrier , as shown by the fact that in male cdi mice which received 10 mg of the flavopereirine preparation orally , the encephalic flavopereirine content was approximately 7 μg ( i . e ., a concentration of 14 μg / g , from 20 g mice with brains weighing 0 . 5 g .). the effectiveness of flavopereirine in the present invention will now be demonstrated by the following non - limiting examples . the destruction of hiv by flavopereirine in in vitro cell cultures without effect on normal or healthy cells was demonstrated using the h - 9 colony of t4 lymphocytes obtained from dr . r . gallo via the paul ehrlich institute ( frankfurt , germany ) and propagated by the institut fur medizinische mikrobiologie und hygiene ( university of bern , switzerland ). hiv was obtained as htlv - iii from dr . gallo and propagated in the h - 9 cells . the surface material produced by the infected h - 9 cell culture was stored at - 80 ° c . this material had a concentration of 10 6 iu / ml at the point of use . the h - 9 cells were cultivated in an rpmi 1640 medium containing 15 % fetal calf serum , 0 . 002 μm glutamine and 100 iu penicillin / ml in falcon flasks ( 25 cm 3 ). 8 to 20 ml of the medium was used per vial . the vials were incubated at 37 ° c . in an upright position . the culture was initiated at a concentration of 2 × 10 5 h - 9 cells per ml , and divided when the number of cells reached 1 × 10 6 cells / mi . in order to test the flavopereirine in cultures of both infected and non - infected h - 9 cells , microtitration plates were used . in these cases , the cultures were begun at a concentration of 6 × 10 5 h - 9 cells / mi . after 23 hours incubation , 0 . 1 ml rpmi 1640 medium containing 10 2 iu of hiv was added to each well containing 0 . 1 ml of this cellular suspension . this corresponds to an infection multiplication of 1 . 6 × 10 4 , i . e ., one infectious unit per 500 cells . 16 hours after infection , 0 . 1 ml of rpmi 1640 medium , with or without flavopereirine , was added to the infected and non - infected wells . the flavopereirine was used at a concentration of 30 μg / ml and 60 μg / ml . the microtitration plates were covered with an amersham plate cover , and incubated at 37 ° c . cellular counts were determined using an hiv antigen kit provided by abbott laboratories . for purposes of titration , a volume of 10 μl ( taken from each of the wells of the microtitration plate ) was diluted in 1 ml of rpmi 1640 medium . based on this stock , 8 dilutions were made in respective series of 1 to 3 and 1 to 5 . a volume of 0 . 1 ml of each dilution was removed and added to 0 . 2 ml of pre - incubated culture of h - 9 cells containing 5 × 10 5 cells / mi . after incubation at 37 ° c ., the presence of hiv antigens was tested using an hiv antigen kit provided by abbott laboratories . the results , which are reproduced in graphic form in the attached fig1 show that flavopereirine does not affect the multiplication of non - infected cells . by contrast , the quantity of infected cells is around 40 % lower when the flavopereirine is present . what was even more striking ( as shown in the presentation of results in fig2 ) was that , although there was an increase in viral particles of untreated infected cells over time , it was not possible , within the limitations of this particular test , to detect the presence of infectious units above 3000 in the series of infected cells treated with flavopereirine ( 30 μg or 60 μg ). this shows that the inhibition of infection exceeds 99 % at the very least . an evaluation of the antiviral effect of flavopereirine was also undertaken by studying the cytopathogenic effect of the hiv virus on mt4 cells , given that a formation of syncytia was observed 4 - 6 days after infection by hiv - 1 , followed by the death of the cells . the flavopereirine was used in the form of an alcoholic solution ( 40 mg in 100 μl alcohol ). dilutions were made in rpmi medium at 10 % of fcs , 1 % of psn and 1 % of glutamine . the mt4 cells were left to pre - incubate for two hours at 37 ° c . with a successive dilution of flavopereirine containing 3 × 10 5 cells for 10 μl of flavopereirine solution . the solution was obtained by adding 100 μl of a 10 - 4 dilution of hiv - 1 virus , producing a syncytia formation in 4 - 6 days . after one hour of incubation at 37 ° c ., the infected mt4 cells were washed three times with rpmi solution before being placed in culture ( 3 × 10 5 cells / ml in microplates with 24 wells ) with the presence of different dilutions of flavopereirine . the syncytia count was taken each day in duplicate . the results are summarized in tables i , ii and iii below . table i shows cellular toxicity for 100 and 400 μg / ml flavopereirine . at 50 μg / ml syncytia had not formed after 7 days culture . from 10 μg / ml to 100 ng / ml , syncytia was observed , as it was in the hiv - 1 control , table ii confirms the protection obtained by flavopereirine at 50 μg / ml , and table iii reconfirms these results : no syncytia were formed at 60 μg / ml after 7 days culture , while a few were observed after 6 days at the dosage 30 μg / ml . table i______________________________________h d3 d4 d6 d7______________________________________400 tox toxμg / ml100 tox tox50 (+) (+) (+) (+) - - - - 10 + + + (+) + ++ ++ ++ 1 + (+) + + ++ ++ ++/ t ++/ t100 + + + + ++ ++ ++/ t ++/ tng / mlhiv - 1 + + + + ++ ++ ++ ++/ tonlymt4 - - - - - - - - ______________________________________ table ii__________________________________________________________________________h d3 d4 d5 d6 d7 d10__________________________________________________________________________100 μg / ml tox tox50 - - - - - - - - - - 10 - - + (+) + + + ++ ++ ++ 1 - - + + + ++ ++ ++ ++ ++/ t100 ng / ml - (+) + + + + ++ ++ ++ ++ hiv - 1 only - - (+) + + ++ ++ ++ ++/ t ++/ t__________________________________________________________________________ table iii__________________________________________________________________________h d3 d4 d5 d6 d7__________________________________________________________________________60 μg / ml - - - - - - - - - - 30 - - - - - - (+) - ++ (+) 10 (+) - (+) (+) + (+) ++ ++ ++ ++ 1 (+) (+) (+) (+) (+) (+) ++ + ++ ++ 100 ng / ml - (+) (+) (+) + (+) + ++ ++ ++ hiv - 1 only (+) (+) (+) (+) + + ++ ++ ++ ++ mt4 - - - - - - - - - - __________________________________________________________________________ to test the efficacy of flavopereirine on the infectious capability of hiv - 1 , two experiments were conducted . in the basic methodology of each experiment , 1 nanogram of primary isolates of hiv - 1 , bre1 ( from an asymptomatic patient ) and tig2 ( from an aids patient ) were inoculated with 10 6 peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmc ) stimulated with pha taken from five randomly - chosen hiv - negative donors . after 2 hours of incubation , the cells were rinsed twice and cultivated in 1 ml of rpmi 1640 containing 20 iu of il - 2 per ml ( boehringer mannhelm , germany ), 2 μg of polybrene ( hexadimethrine bromide ) per ml ( sigma , st . louis , mo ., usa ) and 10 - 7 iu of goat antiserum acting against human alpha interferon ( janssen , beerse , belgium ) per ml . half the culture was changed after 72 hours , and thereafter every 48 hours until the 30th day . for the first experiment , prior to incubation of the virus in pbmc stimulated by pha ( blast cells ), extracellular viral stocks were pretreated in triplicate with 30 or 60 μg flavopereirine per ml for two hours . in the second experiment , blast cells were pretreated in triplicate with 30 or 60 μg flavopereirine per ml for two hours , and were then rinsed twice before exposure to the viral inoculum . the surface material of the culture was tested by an immuno - enzymatic ( elisa ) assay for the production of antigen p24 ( abbott , chicago , ill ., usa ) and the optical density ( od ) of the resulting color was converted into p24 concentration from the slope of a standard nomogram , as described by w . lu and j . - m . andrieu , journal of virology , 66 ( 1 ): 334 - 340 ( 1992 ). the result of the two experiments are shown in tables iv and v , respectively . as shown , a pretreatment of hiv - 1 by flavopereirine ( compound h ) at a level of 30 or 60 μg / ml completely prevented the infection of target pbmc by primary hiv - 1 isolates taken from both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients . on the other hand , only pretreatment of target pbmc with 60 μg / ml led to complete inhibition of productive viral infections . to evaluate the cytotoxicity of flavopereirine in resting pbmc and in blast cells , prewashed fresh and blastic pbmc taken from five randomly - selected , healthy , hiv - negative donors were treated in triplicate with 30 or 60 μg flavopereirine per ml of alcoholic solution for two hours , after washing twice , the cells were placed in culture in cellular culture medium until day 15 . the viability of the cells of each group was examined by exclusion coloring with trypan blue and by quantimetric analysis . cultures of hiv - negative pbmc without flavopereirine ( compound h ) were used as controls . the results are summarized in table vi . as shown , the viability of resting pbmc was reduced significantly ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) in the group of cells treated with 60 μg / ml , but this was not the case in the group treated with 30 μg of compound h per ml . viability of the blastic cells appeared to be independent of exposure to compound h . to further test the inhibition of productive infection by hiv - 1 through use of flavopereirine , hiv - 1 was pretreated with flavopereirine ( compound h ) in doses of 10 , 30 , 60 , 100 , 200 μg / ml and then combined with pbmc . flavopereirine was found to inhibit infection of target pbmc by the virus in a manner dependent on the dose ( see table vii below ). doses equal to or higher than 60 μg of compound h per ml appeared to represent the required concentration for complete inhibition of productive viral infections . this experiment was repeated , but prior to the pretreatment the virus was combined with human serum . in the primary human pbmc culture system , the efficacy of flavopereirine ( compound h ) on the inhibition of wild hiv - 1 remained unchanged when the medicine was placed for incubation in a culture medium containing 50 % human serum before the inhibition experiment . ( see table viii ). the cytotoxicity of flavopereirine ( compound h ) in human pbmc stimulated with pha was tested in the presence and absence of human ab serum as shown in table ix . these tests showed that the viability of blast pbmc diminished significantly ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ) in the group of cells treated with 200 μg / ml , but this was not the case in the groups treated with 100 , 60 , 30 and 10 μg / ml compound h respectively . thus , the replication of hiv - 1 can be totally inhibited by a concentration of flavopereirine ( 60 - 100 μg / ml ) that is 2 to 4 times weaker than the cytotoxic concentrations . this effect did not appear to be influenced by the constituents of the human serum . the effects of flavopereirine on the production of primary ( il - 1β and tnf - α ) and secondary ( il - 6 ) cytokines by monocytes was also tested . the adhesive monocytes used were taken from the blood of two types of donors : normal donors -- voluntary blood donors who attended the blood bank of the pitie - salpetriere hospital , paris , france ; and hiv - positive donors from medical consultations . these individuals were in the early stages of hiv infection and , at the moment of taking the blood , were not undergoing any treatment . the risk factors involved were intravenous drug abuse for six of the donors , sexual transmission for three and blood transfusion ( in zaire ) for one patient . no correlation was found between the risk factors and the results of the experiments . in the case of the hiv - positive donors , a number of anomalies were found ; these related mainly to the polynuclear and lymphocytic lines ; hypersegmented or hyposegmented ( pelger type ) polynuclears in four cases out of 10 . hyperbasophilic lymphocytes were also found in four cases out of 10 ( not the same cases as the above ). no correlation was found between these anomalies and the results obtained in the experiments . in immunophenotypical analysis , no expression of the differentiation antigens ( cd34 , cd33 , cd13 and cd11b ) examined was found deficient . the ten donors in these experiments showed a considerable coherence of results ; no spontaneous production of either primary cytokines ( il - iβ and tnf - α ) or of interleukin - 6 , a secondary cytokine ; the stimulation of monocytes over a period of 48 hours with interferon ( 1000 u / ml ) did not cause any production of primary cytokines , except in donor # 10 in 1l - 1β , or of secondary cytokine , except for donors # 1 and 5 . as expected , the stimulations obtained with lps ( lipopolysaccharide ) and the combination interferon - γ + lps they varied in amplitude from donor to donor ; they were always significant , with a synergic effect in the case of double stimulation . product h was not used in these experiments at a rate of more than 20 μg / ml water , since above this rate , net toxicity could have been produced . four donors were previously tested with 30 , 50 , 100 μg / ml with virtually total cytotoxicity : above 40 % at 30 μg / ml , and 100 μg / ml above that rate ( analysis of the culture surface material was not prepared ). the doses of 5 , 10 and 20 μg / ml were chosen from the second series of experiments onwards , after the results from the first two donors had shown that doses of less than 5 μg / ml proved inactive . * increase in the production of tnf - α ( donor 7 ), in one dose only ; this effect was also detected in the response to ifn - γ . * increase in the production of il - 1β ( donors # 3 , 5 and 6 ) with a dose effect , though this was marginal . donor # 10 , however , responded very well to doses of 10 and 20 μg / ml . * production of tnf - α : there was a sharp reduction in production , but solely in the case of a heavy dosage of the product ( 20 βg / ml ) ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). * production of il - 1β : there was no significant modification of the responses to lps or to ifn - γ + lps ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). * there was a sharp reduction in the production of il - 6 ; this inhibition was never total , and , contrary to the case of tnf - α , it was dose - dependent ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). these different results are organized in diagrams 3 and 4 , in which the measured doses are shown in μg / ml of cytokines , and the standard deviations are not precise , since these are always 10 % less than the average . the response of the monocytes taken from the various hiv - positive donors was tested in terms of spontaneous response . the quantities of cells received were low ( the donors were not affected by cytapheresy ), and the experiments were therefore limited by the number of cells available . no modification on the base production was observed , whether for tnf - α or for il - 1β . 8 out of 10 donors showed a significant spontaneous response in interleukin - 6 . the effects obtained were the same as those for healthy donors , namely an almost total reduction in the production of tnf - α ( only at a dosage of 20 μg / ml ) and an absence of any impact on the production of interleukin - 1 at the three dosages employed ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). interleukin - 4 was used at the same time as flavopereirine h , since it has been shown prior to these experiments that this cytokine blocks the spontaneous production of interleukin - 6 in certain hiv - positive patients . in five cases , interleukin - 9 was used for comparison , since this , too , blocks the production of il - 6 in normal monocytes stimulated by lps . * interleukin - 4 inhibited the production of il - 6 , but this inhibition was never total ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). * interleukin - 9 partially inhibited ( up to a maximum of 50 %) spontaneous production ; it never has a compound effect to that of interleukin - 4 ( indeed , in two out of five cases , it caused the neutralization of these effects ; these results are not shown in the tables ). * product h showed an inhibitory effect with a very clear dosage effect ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). however , it never led to the total inhibition of the spontaneous production of il - 6 . on the contrary , in the presence of interleukin - 4 , an amplification effect was almost always obtained ( except in case # 4 ), with total disappearance of production at 3 μg / ml of product h ( and often even from 1 μg / ml ) ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). product h proved toxic at dosages higher than 20 μg / ml in vitro on the cells used within the framework of these experiments , viz . human monocytes taken both from healthy and from asymptomatic hiv - positive donors ; product h proved able to modulate the production of cytokines : this was true directly for primary cytokines , though this effect was weak ; indirectly , this modification was marked in the case of the production of tnf - α and il - 6 , though not il - 1 . product h also inhibited the spontaneous production of il - 6 shown in some hiv - positive patients . this inhibitory effect , which in these experiments was never total , was amplified in the presence of il - 4 ; the normalization of the il - 6 and tnf - α responses in the hiv positive subject , except for the inhibition of the production of il - 1 , was highly significant , since product h did not modify the potential immune relations between monocytes and lymphocytes , or the majority of the inflammatory reactions necessary for survival , such as the stimulation of the stock cells of the bone marrow and the establishment of a defense reaction on the general level . to test the clinical tolerance and efficacy of flavopereirine a clinical study was carried out on 24 hiv - positive patients with total t4 lymphocyte counts at absolute values ranging from 0 . 2 - 0 . 4 × 10 9 / 1 . all the patients were informed about the active ingredient being used and about the other anti - retrovirus medicines in use at the time of the study . the selection of patients was made on the basis of the absolute t4 lymphocyte count : men and women above 18 years of age , having a karnofsky index equal to or higher than 90 %, showing presence of anti - hiv i antibodies in two successive tests ( elisa method ), from groups cdc 11 , cdc iii , cdc iv c2 , cdc iv e in the cdc 87 classification ; with hemoglobin higher than 100 - 120 g / l , neutrophile polynuclears higher than 1 . 5 × 10 9 / 1 , platelets numbering more than 80 × 10 9 / 1 , t4 lymphocytes numbering no more than 0 . 2 × 109 / 1 and no less than 0 . 4 × 10 9 / 1 , and the absence of anti - retroviral therapy , particularly by azt . 20 patients were accepted on the basis of the above criteria . before inclusion in the study , a pretherapeutic study was made for each patient : postclinical and therapeutic history , clinical examination including determination of fever , anorexia and nausea , headaches , pruritus , cough and expectoration , diarrhea , adenopathies , buccal mycoses , seborrheic dermatitis and kaposi &# 39 ; s lesions . a biological study was also undertaken ; this included red corpuscles , platelets , lymphocytic sub - groups ( cd2 , cd4 , vds , cd19 , cd4 / 8 ), determination of antigen p24 and microglobulin beta - 2 , of dhl ( dehydrogenated lactate ), plasmatic ferritin , alat ( alanine - amino - transferase ), asat ( aspartate - aminotransferase ) and plasmatic creatinine . the flavopereirine ( compound h ) was administered in the form of 600 mg capsules , at a daily dose of 1 - 3 g , preferably at least around 1 g , which is generally active for one day , the average length of treatment was 43 ± 11 weeks . side effects were few , occurring only in the first three months . neither blood nor renal toxicity was observed ; nor was there any significant modification in alat or asat . no degradation in the cdc classification and no infections were noticed ; the karnofsky &# 39 ; s index remained around the 100 % level in all cases - physical and professional activity on the part of the patients remained completely normal . immune response to the treatment was expressed mainly in a significant increase in cd4 + cells ( p .& lt ; 0 . 05 ), as well as in cd19 + cells ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). the negative decline in cd4 + was reversed in 18 out of 19 patients ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). all the in vitro and in vivo results clearly indicate that the flavopereirine compound exerts a significant inhibitory effect on the viral infectional capacity of hiv , both in vitro in human cells and in vivo in hiv - 1 infected patients . in 10 of the patients treated over a year , the following significant variations were further noted : increase in the total lymphocyte mass at 9 and 12 months ; in practice , oral administration in solid form , such as tablets or capsules , for example , is recommended . a unitary dosage of around 250 - 500 mg of active ingredient is particularly appropriate . the recommended dosage , in the light of the above results and the indications of toxicity , is around 1 - 3 g , which are generally active for one day ( g / d ) and preferably at least around 1 g / d , most profitably taken at successive intervals over the course of the day . the dosages and / or galenic forms retained may , however , vary according to the state of the patient and the stage of viral attack being treated . their adaptation to the specific case concerned in each particular treatment may be easily achieved by the professional on the basis of his relevant experience and , if necessary , with the assistance of routine preliminary tests . in this respect , it is particularly recommended that close attention be paid to the data provided by a pharmacokinetic study of the patient made in order to establish the half - life , of the active ingredient being administered , and , if necessary , to adapt the form of pharmaceutical preparation for administration accordingly . the latter may , for example , take the form of time - release galenic preparations . apart from the active ingredient or a salt or other derivative thereof , the doses for administration include at least one pharmaceutical support or vector , as well as excipients , carriers and standard perfumes and / or colorants . table iv______________________________________pretreatment of viral inoculum with compound h ( experiments intriplicate ) hiv pretreated post - infection productionviral stock with h for of hiv p24 ( pg / ml )( 1 ng / ml ) 2 hours d3 d5 d14 d21 d30______________________________________hiv - 1 . sub . asym . control 250 ± 25 & gt ; 1500 ( stock . sub . brat ) + 30 μg / ml - - - - - + 60 μg / mi - - - - - hiv - 1 . sub . aids control 575 ± 129 & gt ; 1500 ( stock . sub . tigr ) + 30 μg / ml - - - - - + 60 μg / ml - - - - - ______________________________________ reunified peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmc ) taken from five randomlychosen , healthy , hivnegative donors . table v______________________________________pretreatment of target cells with compound h ( experiments intriplicate ) pbmc * pretreated post - infection productionviral stock with h for of hiv p24 ( pg / ml )( 1 ng / ml ) 2 hours d3 d5 d14 d21 d30______________________________________hiv - 1 . sub . asmy . control 250 ± 25 & gt ; 1500 ( stock . sub . brat ) + 30 μg / ml 113 ± 7 & gt ; 1500 + 60 μg / ml - - - - - hiv - 1 . sub . aids control 575 ± 129 & gt ; 1500 ( stock . sub . tigr ) + 30 μg / ml 515 ± 103 & gt ; 1500 + 60 μg / ml - - - - - ______________________________________ * reunified pbmc taken from five randomlychosen , healthy , hivnegative donors . table vi__________________________________________________________________________cytotoxicity of compound h in human pbmc at rest and in pbmcstimulated by pha ( blastic ) ( experiments repeated 5 times ) viability (%) of pbmc aftertarget cells treated exposure to compound hcells with h ( 2 hrs .) d3 d7 d11 d13 d15__________________________________________________________________________pbmc * control 97 ± 2 95 ± 3 98 ± 2 91 ± 8 85 ± 9 + 30 μg / ml 95 ± 4 93 ± 2 88 ± 7 82 ± 10 81 ± 11 + 60 μg / ml 56 ± 6 23 ± 4 17 ± 4 12 ± 5 25 ± 8blast . ** control 86 ± 5 34 ± 6 76 ± 4 75 ± 5 68 ± 7 + 30 μg / ml 88 ± 3 35 ± 7 71 ± 3 76 ± 9 69 ± 8 + 60 μg / ml 79 ± 4 74 ± 5 70 ± 4 71 ± 8 63 ± 7__________________________________________________________________________ * reunified pbmc taken from five randomlychosen , healthy , hivnegative donors . ** blastic cells stimulated with pha taken from five randomlychosen , healthy , hivnegative donors . table vii______________________________________pretreatment of viral inoculum with compound h in the absenceof human ab group serum ( experiment repeated 5 times ) hiv pretreated production of p24 in hiv ( pg / ml ) with h for 2 hrs . d4 d10 d14 d21______________________________________control 510 ± 235 & gt ; 1500 + 200 μg / ml - - - -+ 100 μg / ml - - - -+ 60 μg / ml - - - -+ 30 μg / ml 173 ± 102 & gt ; 1500 + 10 μg / ml 388 ± 124 & gt ; 1500______________________________________ reunified peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmc ) taken from five randomlychosen , healthy , hivnegative donors . table viii______________________________________pretreatment of viral inoculum with compound h in the presenceof human ab serum ( experiment repeated 3 times ) hiv with / w . outpretreated (-/+) with h for 50 % of ab production of p24 in hiv ( pg / ml ) 2 hrs . serum d4 d10 d14 d21______________________________________control - 510 ± 235 & gt ; 1500 + 200 μg / ml + - - - -+ 100 μg / ml + - - - -+ 60 μg / ml + - - - -+ 30 μg / ml + 275 ± 98 & gt ; 1500 + 10 μg / ml + 384 ± 83 & gt ; 1500______________________________________ reunified peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmc ) taken from five randomlychosen , healthy , hivnegacive donors . table ix__________________________________________________________________________cytotoxicity of compound h on human pbmc stimulated with pha ( blasts ) in the presence or absence of human ab group serum ( experiment repeated 5 times ) cells with / w . outtreated (-/+) cytotoxicity of compound h afterwith h 50 % of exposure to pbmc *( 2 hrs .) ab serum d4 d10 d14 d21__________________________________________________________________________control - 85 ± 1 . 4 ** 86 ± 1 . 3 80 ± 2 . 7 77 ± 3 . 1 + 200 μg / ml - 45 ± 6 . 3 33 ± 7 . 8 24 ± 7 . 6 15 ± 5 . 4 + 100 μg / ml - 84 ± 1 . 6 79 ± 3 . 1 73 ± 5 . 3 74 ± 4 . 7 + 60 μg / ml - 86 ± 1 . 5 82 ± 2 . 4 82 ± 2 . 6 80 ± 3 . 3 + 30 μg / ml - 81 ± 2 . 8 83 ± 2 . 6 80 ± 3 . 9 78 ± 4 . 8 + 10 μg / ml - 87 ± 1 . 2 86 ± 1 . 4 84 ± 1 . 5 81 ± 2 . 3 + 200 μg / ml + 37 ± 6 . 8 24 ± 6 . 6 17 ± 7 . 9 11 ± 5 . 6 + 100 μg / ml + 83 ± 2 . 3 80 ± 4 . 5 77 ± 5 . 6 73 ± 4 . 4 + 60 μg / ml + 85 ± 1 . 2 84 ± 1 . 7 82 ± 2 . 1 79 ± 3 . 5 + 30 μg / ml + 88 ± 1 . 3 84 ± 2 . 5 82 ± 3 . 7 81 ± 4 . 6 + 10 μg / ml + 87 ± 1 . 1 88 ± 1 . 4 84 ± 3 . 2 82 ± 3 . 1__________________________________________________________________________ * blastic cells stimulated with pha taken from five randomlychosen , healthy , hivnegative donors . ** percentage ( average ± standard deviation ) viable cells
flavopereirine taken alone may act as an effective active agent in the struggle against hiv viruses in mammals , including humans . more specifically , it has been found that flavopereirine is an active agent which on its own , whether in vitro or in vivo exerts a selective inhibitlye action on viral hiv infection , particularly in patients infected by hiv - 1 . thus , there is provided a method for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus comprising administering to a human patient infected with human immunodeficiency virus an effective antiviral amount of a composition consisting of flavopereirine or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or derivative thereof and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . the flavopereirine , or one of its salts or other acceptable pharmaceutical derivatives , is preferably administered in solid form containing approximately 250 - 500 mg of flavopereirine per dose .