Vesnarinone inhibits production of HIV-1 in cultured cells.

Vesnarinone, a synthetic oral cardiotonic agent that has been used for treatment of patients with congestive heart failure, was found to inhibit replication of HIV-1 in a peripheral blood lymphocytes model and in chronically infected macrophages at clinically achieved concentrations. Vesnarinone has no direct inhibitory activity against the reverse transcriptase of HIV-1, syncytium formation in short term assays, or retroviral protease. In addition, vesnarinone inhibits production of TNF-alpha and IL-6 by human peripheral blood mononucleated cells stimulated with LPS. These observations suggest that vesnarinone may be therapeutically useful in patients infected with HIV-1.