ArticleRetrovirology2008
Preclinical evaluation of lime juice as a topical microbicide candidate.
Article in Retrovirology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intravaginal practices, bacterial vaginosis, and HIV infection in women: individual participant data meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2011Pooled it
- Microbicides for the Treatment of Sexually Transmitted HIV Infections.Journal of pharmaceutics · 2014Review
- Intravaginal practices and microbicide acceptability in Papua New Guinea: implications for HIV prevention in a moderate-prevalence setting.BMC research notes · 2012Article
- Non-specific microbicide product development: then and now.Current HIV research · 2012Review
- Combinations of 3-hydroxyphthalic anhydride-modified ovalbumin with antiretroviral drug-based microbicide candidates display synergistic and complementary effects against HIV-1 infection.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2011Article
- Preclinical evaluation of UC781 microbicide vaginal drug delivery.Drug delivery and translational research · 2011Article
- New approaches to making the microenvironment of the female reproductive tract hostile to HIV.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2011Review
- Cervico-vaginal tissue ex vivo as a model to study early events in HIV-1 infection.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2011Article
- Article
- Advances in the prevention of heterosexual transmission of HIV/AIDS among women in the United States.Infectious disease reports · 2011Article
- Intravaginal and menstrual practices among women working in food and recreational facilities in Mwanza, Tanzania: implications for microbicide trials.AIDS and behavior · 2010Article
- Safety and anti-HIV assessments of natural vaginal cleansing products in an established topical microbicides in vitro testing algorithm.AIDS research and therapy · 2010Article
- Maleic anhydride-modified chicken ovalbumin as an effective and inexpensive anti-HIV microbicide candidate for prevention of HIV sexual transmission.Retrovirology · 2010Article
- Inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection by the candidate microbicide dapivirine, a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe continued growth of the global HIV epidemic highlights the urgent need to develop novel prevention strategies to reduce HIV transmission. The development of topical microbicides is likely to take a number of years before such a product would be widely available. This has resulted in a call for the rapid introduction of simpler vaginal intervention strategies in the interim period. One suggested practice would be vaginal douching with natural products including lime or lemon juice. Here we present a comprehensive preclinical evaluation of lime juice (LiJ) as a potential intervention strategy against HIV.
resultsPre-treatment of HIV with LiJ demonstrated direct virucidal activity, with 10% juice inactivating the virus within 5 minutes. However, this activity was significantly reduced in the presence of seminal plasma, where inactivation required maintaining a 1:1 mixture of neat LiJ and seminal plasma for more than 5 minutes. Additionally, LiJ demonstrated both time and dose-dependent toxicity towards cervicovaginal epithelium, where exposure to 50% juice caused 75-90% toxicity within 5 minutes increasing to 95% by 30 minutes. Cervicovaginal epithelial cell monolayers were more susceptible to the effects of LiJ with 8.8% juice causing 50% toxicity after 5 minutes. Reconstructed stratified cervicovaginal epithelium appeared more resilient to LiJ toxicity with 30 minutes exposure to 50% LiJ having little effect on viability. However viability was reduced by 75% and 90% following 60 and 120 minutes exposure. Furthermore, repeat application (several times daily) of 25% LiJ caused 80-90% reduction in viability.
conclusionThese data demonstrate that the virucidal activity of LiJ is severely compromised in the presence of seminal plasma. Potentially, to be effective against HIV in vivo, women would need to apply a volume of neat LiJ equal to that of an ejaculate, and maintain this ratio vaginally for 5-30 minutes after ejaculation. Data presented here suggest that this would have significant adverse effects on the genital mucosa. These data raise serious questions about the plausibility and safety of such a prevention approach.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.