INHIBITION OF NF-KAPPA-B-DEPENDENT TRANSCRIPTION OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS-1 PROMOTER BY A PHOSPHODIESTER COMPOUND OF VITAMIN-C AND VITAMIN-E, EPC-K1

We investigated the effect of EPC-K1, which is a phosphodiester compou nd of vitamin E and vitamin C, on NF-kappa B activity in human culture d astrocytoma cells T98G. In TNF alpha-stimulated T98G cells, treatmen t with EPC-K1 inhibited both DNA binding activity and transactivation of NF-kappa B in a dose-dependent manner, and the suppressive effect o f EPC-K1 was stronger than either that of vitamin E or vitamin C. More over, we showed that in TNF alpha-stimulated T98G cells treatment with EPC-K1 repressed NF-kappa B-dependent activation of the human immunod eficiency virus 1 promoter. In contrast, TNF alpha-induced activation of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 promoter was not completely inhi bited by either treatment with vitamin E or vitamin C. We, thus, sugge st that EPC-K1 is considered to be one of the inhibitory agents of NF- kappa B. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.