Immunologic Response to Kansui in Treated HIV+ Individuals: a Dose Escalation Study

Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and bioactivity of an herbal supplement called "kansui," which contains several active ingredients such as ingenols that may have a role in helping clear HIV from the body. Kansui has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries to treat various ailments such as for eliminating excess fluid in the abdomen or lungs, loosening phlegm from the chest, and relieving constipation. Based on preliminary in vitro data from our group, kansui extract powder is a potent activator of HIV transpcription in latently infected Jurkat cells. The investigators' hypothesis is that kansui extract powder prepared as tea will be safe and well-tolerated, elicit an in vivo immunologic response, and at the doses administered, increase HIV transcription in latently-infected cells among HIV-infected patients on suppressive antiretroviral therapy.

Timeline

Start

2019-05-15

Primary completion

2020-03-19

Completion

2020-03-19

Outcome

Outcome not reported

Stopped (Enrollment): “Pause on clinical trial enrollment due to grant funding cuts after COVID-19”

Publications

• Results Cary DC, Fujinaga K, Peterlin BM. Euphorbia Kansui Reactivates Latent HIV. PLoS One. 2016 Dec 15;11(12):e0168027. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168027. eCollection 2016.
• Results Wang P, Lu P, Qu X, Shen Y, Zeng H, Zhu X, Zhu Y, Li X, Wu H, Xu J, Lu H, Ma Z, Zhu H. Reactivation of HIV-1 from Latency by an Ingenol Derivative from Euphorbia Kansui. Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 25;7(1):9451. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-07157-0.
• Results Liu Q, Li W, Huang L, Asada Y, Morris-Natschke SL, Chen CH, Lee KH, Koike K. Identification, structural modification, and dichotomous effects on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication of ingenane esters from Euphorbia kansui. Eur J Med Chem. 2018 Aug 5;156:618-627. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.07.020. Epub 2018 Jul 19.

Drugs

Indications