Abstract:
Several species of the Helichrysum genus have been used ethnobotanically to treat
conditions that we today know have been caused by viral infections. Since HIV is a
modern disease with no ethnobotanical history, we commenced with a study on the antiHIV activity of several Helichrysum species. Drug discovery of small molecules from natural
resources that is based on the integration of chemical and biological activity by means of
metabolomical analyses, enables faster and a more cost-effective path to identify active
compounds without the need for a long process of bioassay-guided fractionation. This
study used metabolomics to identify anti-HIV compounds as biomarkers from
57 Helichrysum species in a combined study of the chemical and biological data of
two previous studies. In the OPLS-DA and hierarchical cluster analyses, anti-HIV activity
data was included as a secondary observation, which assisted in the correlation of the
phytochemical composition and biological activity of the samples. Clear grouping revealed
similarity in chemical composition and bioactivity of the samples. Based on the biological
activity of polar extracts, there was a distinct phytochemical difference between active and
non-active groups of extracts. This NMR-based metabolomic investigation showed that
the chlorogenic acids, compounds with cinnamoyl functional groups, and quinic acid were
the most prominent compounds in the Helichrysum species with anti-HIV activity. This
study further revealed that the chlorogenic acid type compounds and quinic acid are
biomarkers for anti-HIV activity.
