Antiretroviral effect simulation from black tea (Camellia sinensis) via dual inhibitors mechanism in HIV-1 and its social perspective in Indonesia

This study aims to investigate the general social perspective related to black tea (Camellia sinensis) as a traditional treatment in Indonesia, the potency of bioactive compounds in black tea as a dual inhibitor of the replication of HIV-1 as it inhibits the chemical interactions between ligands and target protein domain. The samples is prepared from specific databases that is about HIV-1 target protein, black tea chemical compounds, and HIV-1 drug compounds as positive control. After that the virtual screening, protein-ligand interaction, and molecular visualization tests were performed. Thirteen black tea compounds obtained from the database and 2 control compounds consisting of neverapine and darunavir. In addition, the 3D structure of the target protein from HIV-1 consisting of reverse transcriptase (RT) (ID 3LP1) and protease (PR) (ID 4HLA) was obtained from a protein database. Interestingly, the social perspective regarding HIV-1 treatment is predicted to be more likely to choose traditional medicine compared to the use of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. Traditional medicine with black tea may be very popular among many people. In conclusion, almost all chemical compounds contained in black tea can inhibit the HIV-1 replication. Furthermore, there are two compounds that play an important role in the process because it is predicted to inhibit the biological activity of PR and RT in HIV-1, (−)-epicatechin-gallate and epigallocatechin-gallate called dual inhibitors.