Trichosanthin

Trichosanthin

　　Trichosanthin, as a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, was first recorded in the 14th century in the *Compendium of Materia Medica* by the famous Ming Dynasty physician Li Shizhen, where it was primarily used to treat gynecological diseases. In the 1970s, the Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully extracted an active ingredient from trichosanthin—trichosanthin protein. Over the following decade, scientists discovered through pharmacological research that trichosanthin protein is a type of ribosome-inactivating protein with immune-suppressing effects. It can also inhibit the replication of HIV virus in infected lymphocytes and monocytes, thereby preventing the spread of the virus within the patient’s body.

Based on this discovery, in the early 1990s, Chinese scientists conducted Phase I and II clinical trials using trichosanthin protein to treat AIDS. However, due to the strong antigenicity of trichosanthin protein (i.e., the risk of immune rejection), it caused significant liver damage in AIDS patients, along with a range of side effects such as high fever, weakness, and inflammation.