CHEMILUMINESCENT ACTIVATION OF THE ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITY OF HYPERICIN - A MOLECULAR FLASHLIGHT

Hypericin is a naturally occurring photosensitizer that displays poten t antiviral activity in the presence of light. The absence of light in many regions of the body may preclude the use of hypericin and other photosensitizers as therapeutic compounds for the treatment of viral i nfections in vivo. The chemiluminescent oxidation of luciferin by the luciferase from the North American firefly Photinus pyralis was found to generate sufficiently intense and long-lived emission to induce ant iviral activity of hypericin. Light-induced virucidal activity of hype ricin was demonstrated against equine infectious anemia virus, a lenti virus structurally, genetically, and antigenically related to the huma n immunodeficiency virus. The implications for exploiting chemilumines cence as a ''molecular flashlight'' for effecting photodynamic therapy against virus-infected cells and tumor cells are discussed.