Revelation of antiviral activities by artificial sulfation of a glycosaminoglycan from a marine Pseudomonas

Sulfated derivatives of a glycosaminoglycan containing L-glutamic acid produced by a marine Pseudomonas species, No. 42 strain, were prepared by the method of dicyclohexyl-carbodiimide-mediated reaction. Both low and high degrees of sulfation of the polysaccharides (products A1 and A2, respectively) were investigated for their antiviral activities against influenza virus type A (FluV-A) and B (FluV-B) in MDCK cells. Both preparations showed antiviral activity against FLuV-A at the 50% antiviral effective concentration of 17.3 and 5.2 mu g/ml, respectively, whereas they had no antiviral activity against FluV-B. No cytotoxicity of either product was noted against MDCK cells at the 50% cytotoxic concentration of 100 mu g/ml.