Basant, a Polyherbal Topical Microbicide Candidate Inhibits different Clades of Both CCR5 and CXCR4 Tropic, Lab-Adapted and Primary Isolates of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 in Vitro Infection

Topical microbicides applied to the vaginal mucosa as pre-exposure prophylactic measures for controlling sexually transmitted diseases have great potential to combat theHIV-1 pandemic in the developing world. Basant is a polyherbal topical microbicide candidate with demonstrated activity against CXCR4 co-receptor tropic HIV-1 as well as fungal and bacterial sexually transmitted infections. The current study demonstrates that Basant is effective against both CCR5 and CXCR4 tropic HIV-1 lab-adapted strains and primary isolates from different clades. We also investigate the kinetics of Basant inhibition as compared to the fusion inhibitor Enfuvirtide and report that Basant inhibits HIV-1 at an early stage of infection. We conclude that Basant may be considered as a potential candidate for use as an effective vaginal microbicide in preventing HIV-1 transmission