Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 146 in total

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  1. Fulltext A review on antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal activity of curcumin
    Moghadamtousi SZ, Kadir HA, Hassandarvish P, Tajik H, Abubakar S, Zandi K
    Biomed Res Int, 2014;2014:186864.
    PMID: 24877064 DOI: 10.1155/2014/186864
    Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae family) and its polyphenolic compound curcumin have been subjected to a variety of antimicrobial investigations due to extensive traditional uses and low side effects. Antimicrobial activities for curcumin and rhizome extract of C. longa against different bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites have been reported. The promising results for antimicrobial activity of curcumin made it a good candidate to enhance the inhibitory effect of existing antimicrobial agents through synergism. Indeed, different investigations have been done to increase the antimicrobial activity of curcumin, including synthesis of different chemical derivatives to increase its water solubility as well ass cell up take of curcumin. This review aims to summarize previous antimicrobial studies of curcumin towards its application in the future studies as a natural antimicrobial agent.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  2. Fulltext Antiviral activity of baicalein and quercetin against the Japanese encephalitis virus
    Johari J, Kianmehr A, Mustafa MR, Abubakar S, Zandi K
    Int J Mol Sci, 2012;13(12):16785-95.
    PMID: 23222683 DOI: 10.3390/ijms131216785
    Japanese encephalitis (JE), a mosquito-borne viral disease, is endemic to the entire east and southeast Asia, and some other parts of the world. Currently, there is no effective therapeutic available for JE; therefore, finding the effective antiviral agent against JEV replication is crucial. In the present study, the in vitro antiviral activity of baicalein and quercetin, two purportedly antiviral bioflavonoids, was evaluated against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) replication in Vero cells. Anti-JEV activities of these compounds were examined on different stages of JEV replication cycle. The effects of the compounds on virus replication were determined by foci forming unit reduction assay (FFURA) and quantitative RT-PCR. Baicalein showed potent antiviral activity with IC(50) = 14.28 µg/mL when it was introduced to the Vero cells after adsorption of JEV. Quercetin exhibited weak anti-JEV effects with IC(50) = 212.1 µg/mL when the JEV infected cells were treated with the compound after virus adsorption. However, baicalein exhibited significant effect against JEV adsorption with IC(50) = 7.27 µg/mL while quercetin did not show any anti-adsorption activity. Baicalein also exhibited direct extracellular virucidal activity on JEV with IC(50) = 3.44 µg/mL. However, results of quantitative RT-PCR experiments confirmed the findings from FFURA. This study demonstrated that baicalein should be considered as an appropriate candidate for further investigations, such as the study of molecular and cellular mechanism(s) of action and in vivo evaluation for the development of an effective antiviral compound against Japanese encephalitis virus.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  3. Fulltext Antiviral Potential of Algae Polysaccharides Isolated from Marine Sources: A Review
    Ahmadi A, Zorofchian Moghadamtousi S, Abubakar S, Zandi K
    Biomed Res Int, 2015;2015:825203.
    PMID: 26484353 DOI: 10.1155/2015/825203
    From food to fertilizer, algal derived products are largely employed in assorted industries, including agricultural, biomedical, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Among different chemical compositions isolated from algae, polysaccharides are the most well-established compounds, which were subjected to a variety of studies due to extensive bioactivities. Over the past few decades, the promising results for antiviral potential of algae-derived polysaccharides have advocated them as inordinate candidates for pharmaceutical research. Numerous studies have isolated various algal polysaccharides possessing antiviral activities, including carrageenan, alginate, fucan, laminaran, and naviculan. In addition, different mechanisms of action have been reported for these polysaccharides, such as inhibiting the binding or internalization of virus into the host cells or suppressing DNA replication and protein synthesis. This review strives for compiling previous antiviral studies of algae-derived polysaccharides and their mechanism of action towards their development as natural antiviral agents for future investigations.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  4. A Real-Time Cell Analyzing Assay for Identification of Novel Antiviral Compounds against Chikungunya Virus
    Zandi K
    Methods Mol Biol, 2016;1426:255-62.
    PMID: 27233278 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3618-2_23
    Screening of viral inhibitors through induction of cytopathic effects (CPE) by conventional method has been applied for various viruses including Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a significant arbovirus. However, it does not provide the information about cytopathic effect from the beginning and throughout the course of virus replication. Conventionally, most of the approaches are constructed on laborious end-point assays which are not capable for detecting minute and rapid changes in cellular morphology. Therefore, we developed a label-free and dynamical method for monitoring the cellular features that comprises cell attachment, proliferation, and viral cytopathogenicity, known as the xCELLigence real-time cell analysis (RTCA). In this chapter, we provide a RTCA protocol for quantitative analysis of CHIKV replication using an infected Vero cell line treated with ribavirin as an in vitro model.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  5. Fulltext Potential Antiviral Agents from Marine Fungi: An Overview
    Moghadamtousi SZ, Nikzad S, Kadir HA, Abubakar S, Zandi K
    Mar Drugs, 2015 Jul;13(7):4520-38.
    PMID: 26204947 DOI: 10.3390/md13074520
    Biodiversity of the marine world is only partially subjected to detailed scientific scrutiny in comparison to terrestrial life. Life in the marine world depends heavily on marine fungi scavenging the oceans of lifeless plants and animals and entering them into the nutrient cycle by. Approximately 150 to 200 new compounds, including alkaloids, sesquiterpenes, polyketides, and aromatic compounds, are identified from marine fungi annually. In recent years, numerous investigations demonstrated the tremendous potential of marine fungi as a promising source to develop new antivirals against different important viruses, including herpes simplex viruses, the human immunodeficiency virus, and the influenza virus. Various genera of marine fungi such as Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Fusarium were subjected to compound isolation and antiviral studies, which led to an illustration of the strong antiviral activity of a variety of marine fungi-derived compounds. The present review strives to summarize all available knowledge on active compounds isolated from marine fungi with antiviral activity.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology
  6. Fulltext Antiviral activity of silymarin against chikungunya virus
    Lani R, Hassandarvish P, Chiam CW, Moghaddam E, Chu JJ, Rausalu K, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2015;5:11421.
    PMID: 26078201 DOI: 10.1038/srep11421
    The mosquito-borne chikungunya virus (CHIKV) causes chikungunya fever, with clinical presentations such as severe back and small joint pain, and debilitating arthritis associated with crippling pains that persist for weeks and even years. Although there are several studies to evaluate the efficacy of drugs against CHIKV, the treatment for chikungunya fever is mainly symptom-based and no effective licensed vaccine or antiviral are available. Here, we investigated the antiviral activity of three types of flavonoids against CHIKV in vitro replication. Three compounds: silymarin, quercetin and kaempferol were evaluated for their in vitro antiviral activities against CHIKV using a CHIKV replicon cell line and clinical isolate of CHIKV of Central/East African genotype. A cytopathic effect inhibition assay was used to determine their activities on CHIKV viral replication and quantitative reverse transcription PCR was used to calculate virus yield. Antiviral activity of effective compound was further investigated by evaluation of CHIKV protein expression using western blotting for CHIKV nsP1, nsP3, and E2E1 proteins. Briefly, silymarin exhibited significant antiviral activity against CHIKV, reducing both CHIKV replication efficiency and down-regulating production of viral proteins involved in replication. This study may have important consequence for broaden the chance of getting the effective antiviral for CHIKV infection.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  7. Exploring the in vitro potential of celecoxib derivative AR-12 as an effective antiviral compound against four dengue virus serotypes
    Hassandarvish P, Oo A, Jokar A, Zukiwski A, Proniuk S, Abu Bakar S, et al.
    J Antimicrob Chemother, 2017 09 01;72(9):2438-2442.
    PMID: 28666323 DOI: 10.1093/jac/dkx191
    Objectives: With no clinically effective antiviral options available, infections and fatalities associated with dengue virus (DENV) have reached an alarming level worldwide. We have designed this study to evaluate the efficacy of the celecoxib derivative AR-12 against the in vitro replication of all four DENV serotypes.

    Methods: Each 24-well plate of Vero cells infected with all four DENV serotypes, singly, was subjected to treatments with various doses of AR-12. Following 48 h of incubation, inhibitory efficacies of AR-12 against the different DENV serotypes were evaluated by conducting a virus yield reduction assay whereby DENV RNA copy numbers present in the collected supernatant were quantified using qRT-PCR. The underlying mechanism(s) possibly involved in the compound's inhibitory activities were then investigated by performing molecular docking on several potential target human and DENV protein domains.

    Results: The qRT-PCR data demonstrated that DENV-3 was most potently inhibited by AR-12, followed by DENV-1, DENV-2 and DENV-4. Our molecular docking findings suggested that AR-12 possibly exerted its inhibitory effects by interfering with the chaperone activities of heat shock proteins.

    Conclusions: These results serve as vital information for the design of future studies involving in vitro mechanistic studies and animal models, aiming to decipher the potential of AR-12 as a potential therapeutic option for DENV infection.

    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  8. Antiviral activity of selected flavonoids against Chikungunya virus
    Lani R, Hassandarvish P, Shu MH, Phoon WH, Chu JJ, Higgs S, et al.
    Antiviral Res, 2016 Sep;133:50-61.
    PMID: 27460167 DOI: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2016.07.009
    This study focuses on the antiviral activity of selected flavonoids against the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a mosquito-transmitted virus that can cause incapacitating arthritis in infected individuals. Based on the results of screening on Vero cells, the tested compounds were evaluated further with various assays, including cytotoxicity assay, virus yield assay by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), virus RNA replication assay with a CHIKV replicon cell line, Western blotting, and quantitative immunofluorescence assay. Baicalein, fisetin, and quercetagetin displayed potent inhibition of CHIKV infection, with 50% inhibitory concentrations [IC50] of 1.891 μg/ml (6.997 μM), 8.444 μg/ml (29.5 μM), and 13.85 μg/ml (43.52 μM), respectively, and with minimal cytotoxicity. The time-of-addition studies and various antiviral assays demonstrated that baicalein and quercetagetin mainly inhibited CHIKV binding to the Vero cells and displayed potent activity against extracellular CHIKV particles. The qRT-PCR, immunofluorescence assay, and Western blot analyses indicated that each of these flavonoids affects CHIKV RNA production and viral protein expression. These data provide the first evidence of the intracellular anti-CHIKV activity of baicalein, fisetin, and quercetagetin.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  9. Flavonoids: promising natural compounds against viral infections
    Zakaryan H, Arabyan E, Oo A, Zandi K
    Arch Virol, 2017 Sep;162(9):2539-2551.
    PMID: 28547385 DOI: 10.1007/s00705-017-3417-y
    Flavonoids are widely distributed as secondary metabolites produced by plants and play important roles in plant physiology, having a variety of potential biological benefits such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activity. Different flavonoids have been investigated for their potential antiviral activities and several of them exhibited significant antiviral properties in in vitro and even in vivo studies. This review summarizes the evidence for antiviral activity of different flavonoids, highlighting, where investigated, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of action on viruses. We also present future perspectives on therapeutic applications of flavonoids against viral infections.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  10. Deciphering the potential of baicalin as an antiviral agent for Chikungunya virus infection
    Oo A, Rausalu K, Merits A, Higgs S, Vanlandingham D, Bakar SA, et al.
    Antiviral Res, 2018 02;150:101-111.
    PMID: 29269135 DOI: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2017.12.012
    The past decade has seen the re-emergence of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) as a major global health threat, affecting millions around the world. Although fatal infections are rare among infected patients, the occurrence of long-lasting polyarthralgia has a significant impact on patients' quality of lives and ability to work. These issues were the stimuli for this study to determine the potential of baicalin, a bioflavonoid, as the novel antiviral compound against CHIKV. It was found that baicalin was well tolerated by Vero, BHK-21 and HEK 293T cells with maximal nontoxic doses >600 μM, ≈ 350 μM and ≈110 μM, respectively. Antiviral assays indicated that baicalin was the most effective inhibitor when tested for its direct virucidal activity with EC50 ≈ 7 μM, followed by inhibition of virus entry into the host cell, attachment of virus particle to cellular receptors and finally intracellular replication of viral RNA genome. In silico analysis using molecular docking demonstrated close interactions between baicalin and CHIKV envelope protein with considerably strong binding affinity of -9.7 kcal/mol. qRT-PCR analysis revealed that baicalin had the greatest effect on the synthesis of viral negative stand RNA with EC50 ≈ 0.4 μM followed by the inhibition of synthesis of positive-strand genomic (EC50 ≈ 13 μM) and subgenomic RNAs (EC50 ≈ 14 μM). These readings indicate that the compound efficiently inhibits replicase complexes formation but is a less potent inhibitor of existing replicase complexes. Coherent with this hypothesis, the use of recombinant CHIKV replicons harboring Renilla luciferase marker showed that replication of corresponding replicon RNAs was only slightly downregulated at higher doses of baicalin, with EC50 > 100 μM. Immunofluorescence and western blotting experiments demonstrated dose-dependent inhibition of expression of different viral proteins. It was also observed that levels of important protein markers for cellular autophagy (LC3) and apoptosis (Bax) were reduced in baicalin treatment groups as compared with untreated virus infected controls. In summary, given its low toxicity and high efficacy against CHIKV, baicalin has great potential to be developed as the novel antiviral compound for CHIKV. In vivo studies to evaluate its activity in a more complexed system represent a necessary step for future analysis.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  11. Fulltext Computational Approach Towards Exploring Potential Anti-Chikungunya Activity of Selected Flavonoids
    Seyedi SS, Shukri M, Hassandarvish P, Oo A, Shankar EM, Abubakar S, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2016 Apr 13;6:24027.
    PMID: 27071308 DOI: 10.1038/srep24027
    Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne alphavirus that causes chikungunya infection in humans. Despite the widespread distribution of CHIKV, no antiviral medication or vaccine is available against this virus. Therefore, it is crucial to find an effective compound to combat CHIKV. We aimed to predict the possible interactions between non-structural protein 3 (nsP) of CHIKV as one of the most important viral elements in CHIKV intracellular replication and 3 potential flavonoids using a computational approach. The 3-dimensional structure of nsP3 was retrieved from the Protein Data Bank, prepared and, using AutoDock Vina, docked with baicalin, naringenin and quercetagetin as ligands. The first-rated ligand with the strongest binding affinity towards the targeted protein was determined based on the minimum binding energy. Further analysis was conducted to identify both the active site of the protein that reacts with the tested ligands and all of the existing intermolecular bonds. Compared to the other ligands, baicalin was identified as the most potential inhibitor of viral activity by showing the best binding affinity (-9.8 kcal/mol). Baicalin can be considered a good candidate for further evaluation as a potentially efficient antiviral against CHIKV.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  12. Fulltext Identification and characterisation of a novel anti-viral peptide against avian influenza virus H9N2
    Rajik M, Jahanshiri F, Omar AR, Ideris A, Hassan SS, Yusoff K
    Virol J, 2009;6:74.
    PMID: 19497129 DOI: 10.1186/1743-422X-6-74
    Avian influenza viruses (AIV) cause high morbidity and mortality among the poultry worldwide. Their highly mutative nature often results in the emergence of drug resistant strains, which have the potential of causing a pandemic. The virus has two immunologically important glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA), and one ion channel protein M2 which are the most important targets for drug discovery, on its surface. In order to identify a peptide-based virus inhibitor against any of these surface proteins, a disulfide constrained heptapeptide phage display library was biopanned against purified AIV sub-type H9N2 virus particles.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  13. A novel peptide inhibits the influenza virus replication by preventing the viral attachment to the host cells
    Rajik M, Omar AR, Ideris A, Hassan SS, Yusoff K
    Int J Biol Sci, 2009 Aug 08;5(6):543-8.
    PMID: 19680476
    Avian influenza viruses (AIV), the causative agent of avian flu or bird flu, cause widespread morbidity and mortality in poultry. The symptoms of the disease range from mild flu like symptoms to death. These viruses possess two important surface glycoproteins, namely hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) against which neutralizing antibodies are produced. Due to the highly mutative nature of the genes which encode these proteins, the viruses often confer resistance to the current anti-viral drugs making the prevention and treatment of infection challenging. In our laboratory, we have recently identified a novel anti-viral peptide (P1) against the AIV H9N2 from a phage displayed peptide library. This peptide inhibits the replication of the virus in ovo and in vitro by its binding to the HA glycoprotein. In the current study, we demonstrate that the peptide inhibits the virus replication by preventing the attachment to the host cell but it does not have any effect on the viral fusion. The reduction in the viral nucleoprotein (NP) expression inside the host cell has also been observed during the peptide (P1) treatment. This novel peptide may have the potential to be developed as a therapeutic agent for the treatment and control of avian influenza virus H9N2 infections.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  14. Peptide inhibitors against influenza virus
    Rajik M, Yusoff K
    Antivir Chem Chemother, 2011;21(4):151-4.
    PMID: 21602612 DOI: 10.3851/IMP1728
    Influenza A virus is a particularly problematic virus because of its ability to cause high levels of morbidity on a global scale within a remarkably short period of time. It also has the potential to kill very large numbers of people as occurred in the Spanish influenza pandemic in 1918. Options for antiviral therapy are limited because of the paucity of available drugs and the rapid mutation rate of the virus leading to the emergence of drug-resistant strains. The current H1N1 pandemic and potential threats posed by other strains highlight the need to develop novel therapeutic and prophylactic strategies. Here, we summarize the current state and recent developments of peptide-based inhibitors of influenza A virus.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  15. Inhibitory effects of a peptide-fusion protein (Latarcin-PAP1-Thanatin) against chikungunya virus
    Rothan HA, Bahrani H, Shankar EM, Rahman NA, Yusof R
    Antiviral Res, 2014 Aug;108:173-80.
    PMID: 24929084 DOI: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2014.05.019
    Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) outbreaks have led to a serious economic burden, as the available treatment strategies can only alleviate disease symptoms, and no effective therapeutics or vaccines are currently available for human use. Here, we report the use of a new cost-effective approach involving production of a recombinant antiviral peptide-fusion protein that is scalable for the treatment of CHIKV infection. A peptide-fusion recombinant protein LATA-PAP1-THAN that was generated by joining Latarcin (LATA) peptide with the N-terminus of the PAP1 antiviral protein, and the Thanatin (THAN) peptide to the C-terminus, was produced in Escherichia coli as inclusion bodies. The antiviral LATA-PAP1-THAN protein showed 89.0% reduction of viral plaque formation compared with PAP1 (46.0%), LATA (67.0%) or THAN (79.3%) peptides alone. The LATA-PAP1-THAN protein reduced the viral RNA load that was 0.89-fold compared with the untreated control cells. We also showed that PAP1 resulted in 0.44-fold reduction, and THAN and LATA resulting in 0.78-fold and 0.73-fold reductions, respectively. The LATA-PAP1-THAN protein inhibited CHIKV replication in the Vero cells at an EC50 of 11.2μg/ml, which is approximately half of the EC50 of PAP1 (23.7μg/ml) and protected the CHIKV-infected mice at the dose of 0.75mg/ml. We concluded that production of antiviral peptide-fusion protein in E. coli as inclusion bodies could accentuate antiviral activities, enhance cellular internalisation, and could reduce product toxicity to host cells and is scalable to epidemic response quantities.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology
  16. Inhibitory effect of doxycycline against dengue virus replication in vitro
    Rothan HA, Mohamed Z, Paydar M, Rahman NA, Yusof R
    Arch Virol, 2014 Apr;159(4):711-8.
    PMID: 24142271 DOI: 10.1007/s00705-013-1880-7
    Doxycycline is an antibiotic derived from tetracycline that possesses antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. Antiviral activity of doxycycline against dengue virus has been reported previously; however, its anti-dengue properties need further investigation. This study was conducted to determine the potential activity of doxycycline against dengue virus replication in vitro. Doxycycline inhibited the dengue virus serine protease (DENV2 NS2B-NS3pro) with an IC50 value of 52.3 ± 6.2 μM at 37 °C (normal human temperature) and 26.7 ± 5.3 μM at 40 °C (high fever temperature). The antiviral activity of doxycycline was first tested at different concentrations against DENV2 using a plaque-formation assay. The virus titter decreased significantly after applying doxycycline at levels lower than its 50 % cytotoxic concentration (CC50, 100 μM), showing concentration-dependent inhibition with a 50 % effective concentration (EC50) of approximately 50 μM. Doxycycline significantly inhibited viral entry and post-infection replication of the four dengue serotypes, with serotype-specific inhibition (high activity against DENV2 and DENV4 compared to DENV1 and DENV3). Collectively, these findings underline the need for further experimental and clinical studies on doxycycline, utilizing its anti-dengue and anti-inflammatory activities to attenuate the clinical symptoms of dengue virus infection.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  17. Fulltext Antiviral cationic peptides as a strategy for innovation in global health therapeutics for dengue virus: high yield production of the biologically active recombinant plectasin peptide
    Rothan HA, Mohamed Z, Suhaeb AM, Rahman NA, Yusof R
    OMICS, 2013 Nov;17(11):560-7.
    PMID: 24044366 DOI: 10.1089/omi.2013.0056
    Dengue virus infects millions of people worldwide, and there is no vaccine or anti-dengue therapeutic available. Antimicrobial peptides have been shown to possess effective antiviral activity against various viruses. One of the main limitations of developing these peptides as potent antiviral drugs is the high cost of production. In this study, high yield production of biologically active plectasin peptide was inexpensively achieved by producing tandem plectasin peptides as inclusion bodies in E. coli. Antiviral activity of the recombinant peptide towards dengue serotype-2 NS2B-NS3 protease (DENV2 NS2B-NS3pro) was assessed as a target to inhibit dengue virus replication in Vero cells. Single units of recombinant plectasin were collected after applying consecutive steps of refolding, cleaving by Factor Xa, and nickel column purification to obtain recombinant proteins of high purity. The maximal nontoxic dose (MNTD) of the recombinant peptide against Vero cells was 20 μM (100 μg/mL). The reaction velocity of DENV2 NS2B-NS3pro decreased significantly after increasing concentrations of recombinant plectasin were applied to the reaction mixture. Plectasin peptide noncompetitively inhibited DENV2 NS2B-NS3pro at Ki value of 5.03 ± 0.98 μM. The percentage of viral inhibition was more than 80% at the MNTD value of plectasin. In this study, biologically active recombinant plectasin which was able to inhibit dengue protease and viral replication in Vero cells was successfully produced in E. coli in a time- and cost- effective method. These findings are potentially important in the development of potent therapeutics against dengue infection.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  18. Fulltext A combination of doxycycline and ribavirin alleviated chikungunya infection
    Rothan HA, Bahrani H, Mohamed Z, Teoh TC, Shankar EM, Rahman NA, et al.
    PLoS One, 2015;10(5):e0126360.
    PMID: 25970853 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126360
    Lack of vaccine and effective antiviral drugs against chikungunya virus (CHIKV) outbreaks have led to significant impact on health care in the developing world. Here, we evaluated the antiviral effects of tetracycline (TETRA) derivatives and other common antiviral agents against CHIKV. Our results showed that within the TETRA derivatives group, Doxycycline (DOXY) exhibited the highest inhibitory effect against CHIKV replication in Vero cells. On the other hand, in the antiviral group Ribavirin (RIBA) showed higher inhibitory effects against CHIKV replication compared to Aciclovir (ACIC). Interestingly, RIBA inhibitory effects were also higher than all but DOXY within the TETRA derivatives group. Docking studies of DOXY to viral cysteine protease and E2 envelope protein showed non-competitive interaction with docking energy of -6.6±0.1 and -6.4±0.1 kcal/mol respectively. The 50% effective concentration (EC50) of DOXY and RIBA was determined to be 10.95±2.12 μM and 15.51±1.62 μM respectively, while DOXY+RIBA (1:1 combination) showed an EC50 of 4.52±1.42 μM. When compared, DOXY showed higher inhibition of viral infectivity and entry than RIBA. In contrast however, RIBA showed higher inhibition against viral replication in target cells compared to DOXY. Assays using mice as animal models revealed that DOXY+RIBA effectively inhibited CHIKV replication and attenuated its infectivity in vivo. Further experimental and clinical studies are warranted to investigate their potential application for clinical intervention of CHIKV disease.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  19. Carnosine exhibits significant antiviral activity against Dengue and Zika virus
    Rothan HA, Abdulrahman AY, Khazali AS, Nor Rashid N, Chong TT, Yusof R
    J. Pept. Sci., 2019 Aug;25(8):e3196.
    PMID: 31290226 DOI: 10.1002/psc.3196
    Dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) are flaviviruses transmitted to humans by their common vector, Aedes mosquitoes. DENV infection represents one of the most widely spread mosquito-borne diseases whereas ZIKV infection occasionally re-emerged in the past causing outbreaks. Although there have been considerable advances in understanding the pathophysiology of these viruses, no effective vaccines or antiviral drugs are currently available. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral activity of carnosine, an endogenous dipeptide (β-alanyl-l-histidine), against DENV serotype 2 (DENV2) and ZIKV infection in human liver cells (Huh7). Computational studies were performed to predict the potential interactions between carnosine and viral proteins. Biochemical and cell-based assays were performed to validate the computational results. Mode-of-inhibition, plaque reduction, and immunostaining assays were performed to determine the antiviral activity of carnosine. Exogenous carnosine showed minimal cytotoxicity in Huh7 cells and rescued the viability of infected cells with EC50 values of 52.3 and 59.5 μM for DENV2 and ZIKV infection, respectively. Based on the mode-of-inhibition assays, carnosine inhibited DENV2 mainly by inhibiting viral genome replication and interfering with virus entry. Carnosine antiviral activity was verified with immunostaining assay where carnosine treatment diminished viral fluorescence signal. In conclusion, carnosine exhibited significant inhibitory effects against DENV2 and ZIKV replication in human liver cells and could be utilized as a lead peptide for the development of effective and safe antiviral agents against DENV and ZIKV.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
  20. Fulltext Screening of antiviral activities in medicinal plants extracts against dengue virus using dengue NS2B-NS3 protease assay
    Rothan HA, Zulqarnain M, Ammar YA, Tan EC, Rahman NA, Yusof R
    Trop Biomed, 2014 Jun;31(2):286-96.
    PMID: 25134897 MyJurnal
    Dengue virus infects millions of people worldwide and there is no vaccine or anti-dengue therapeutic available. Screening large numbers of medicinal plants for anti-dengue activities is an alternative strategy in order to find the potent therapeutic compounds. Therefore, this study was designed to identify anti-dengue activities in nineteen medicinal plant extracts that are used in traditional medicine. Local medicinal plants Vernonia cinerea, Hemigraphis reptans, Hedyotis auricularia, Laurentia longiflora, Tridax procumbers and Senna angustifolia were used in this study. The highest inhibitory activates against dengue NS2B-NS3pro was observed in ethanolic extract of S. angustifolia leaves, methanolic extract of V. cinerea leaves and ethanol extract of T. procumbens stems. These findings were further verified by in vitro viral inhibition assay. Methanolic extract of V. cinerea leaves, ethanol extract of T. procumbens stems and at less extent ethanolic extract of S. angustifolia leaves were able to maintain the normal morphology of DENV2-infected Vero cells without causing much cytopathic effects (CPE). The percentage of viral inhibition of V. cinerea and T. procumbens extracts were significantly higher than S. angustifolia extract as measured by plaque formation assay and RT-qPCR. In conclusion, The outcome of this study showed that the methanolic extract of V. cinerea leaves and ethanol extract of T. procumbens stems possessed high inhibitory activates against dengue virus that worth more investigation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*
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