Planta Med. 1998 May; 64(4): 319-23.

Niaziminin, a thiocarbamate from the leaves of Moringa oleifera, holds a strict structural requirement for inhibition of tumor-promoter-induced Epstein-Barr virus activation.

Murakami A, Kitazono Y, Jiwajinda S, Koshimizu K, Ohigashi H.

Department of Biotechnological Science, Faculty of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Japan.

Three known thiocarbamate (TC)- and isothiocyanate (ITC)-related compounds have been isolated from the leaves of Moringa oleifera, a traditional herb in southeast Asia, as inhibitors of tumor promoter teleocidin B-4-induced Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) activation in Raji cells. Interestingly, only niaziminin among 10 TCs including 8 synthetic ones showed considerable inhibition against EBV activation. The structure-activity relationships indicated that the presence of an acetoxy group at the 4'-position of niaziminin is important and indispensable for inhibition. On the other hand, among the ITC-related compounds, naturally occurring 4-[(4'-O-acetyl-alpha-L-rhamnosyloxy)benzyl]ITC and commercially available allyl- and benzyl-ITC significantly inhibited activation, suggesting that the isothiocyano group is a critical structural factor for activity.