Inhibition of HIV replication in cell culture by the specific aspartic protease inhibitor pepstatin A

After incubation of H9 cells infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with pepstatin A at 10 −4 M for 2, 4, or 11 days, the culture medium contained significantly less HIV core antigen (p24) than controls without pepstatin A and no or only borderline activity of reverse transcriptase was detected. In addition, after pepstatin A treatment no infectious HIV at 2 or 4 days and only minimal amounts at 11 days were detectable in the culture medium.