Antiviral Research

Louisiana State University Antiviral Research (Herpes Virus / HSV-1)

Nerium has ongoing antiviral cold sore research with the Herpes Simplex Virus I (HSV-1). This research is being conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Gus Kousoulas, Director of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

HSV-1 can spread from cell-to-cell avoiding the extracellular environment. This mode of transmission is particularly important in cold sores where the virus spread from cell-to-cell often producing fused cells that allow the virus to be transmitted from one-cell-to-another adjacent cell. In Dr. Kousoulas’s lab the effect of Nerium Extract on viral spread was tested using plaque and plaque-size reduction assays. Results indicated more than a 99% inhibition in plaque size. Overall results and conclusions indicate the Nerium Extract possess limited direct anti-viral activity. However indirectly, they appear to produce drastic inhibition of virus spread in cell culture at relatively low concentrations. Nerium’s antiviral research is moving forward to the next appropriate step.

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