Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Antiviral Res 2022 May 17:105342. Epub 2022 May 17.

KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address:

Despite the great success of the administered vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the virus can still spread, as evidenced by the current circulation of the highly contagious Omicron variant. This emphasizes the additional need to develop effective antiviral countermeasures. In the context of early preclinical studies for antiviral assessment, robust cellular infection systems are required to screen drug libraries. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 6;203:105332. Epub 2022 May 6.

United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0JG, UK. Electronic address:

Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are important to generate protective immunity, with convalescent plasma one of the first therapies approved. An alternative source of polyclonal antibodies suitable for upscaling would be more amendable to regulatory approval and widespread use. In this study, sheep were immunised with SARS-CoV-2 whole spike protein or one of the subunit proteins: S1 and S2. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 6;203:105330. Epub 2022 May 6.

Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3370, USA. Electronic address:

Despite substantial morbidity and mortality, no therapeutic agents exist for treatment of dengue or Zika, and the currently available dengue vaccine is only recommended for dengue virus (DENV)-immune individuals. Thus, development of therapeutic and/or preventive drugs is urgently needed. DENV and Zika virus (ZIKV) nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) can directly trigger endothelial barrier dysfunction and induce inflammatory responses, contributing to vascular leak in vivo. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 6;203:105331. Epub 2022 May 6.

Gilead Sciences, Inc., Foster City, CA, 94404, USA.

Yellow fever virus (YFV) continues to cause periodic outbreaks of severe disease throughout tropical regions of South America and Africa despite the availability of an effective vaccine. Despite efforts to control this virus for the last century, no antivirals have been approved for the treatment of YFV. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the broadly active antiviral compound remdesivir (RDV) in a hamster model of disease. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 5;203:105329. Epub 2022 May 5.

Gilead Sciences, 333 Lakeside Drive, Foster City, CA, 94404, USA. Electronic address:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, has infected over 260 million people over the past 2 years. Remdesivir (RDV, VEKLURY®) is currently the only antiviral therapy fully approved by the FDA for the treatment of COVID-19. The parent nucleoside of RDV, GS-441524, exhibits antiviral activity against numerous respiratory viruses including SARS-CoV-2, although at reduced in vitro potency compared to RDV in most assays. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Apr 30;203:105326. Epub 2022 Apr 30.

Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USA. Electronic address:

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is the leading non-genetic cause of long-term neurological and sensory sequelae, the most common being sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Standard therapy for infants with symptomatic cCMV is valganciclovir for six months. However, little is known about the effects of antiviral therapy on CMV diversity while patients are on treatment. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 28;202:105328. Epub 2022 Apr 28.

CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Electronic address:

Letermovir (LTV) is approved for the prophylaxis of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in adult seropositive recipients of an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Here, we report on the in vitro activity of LTV against a large panel of clinical HCMV isolates and recombinant viruses with different drug susceptibility phenotypes to currently-approved DNA polymerase inhibitors or maribavir. No pre-existing mutations conferring resistance to LTV were detected by Sanger sequencing in clinical HCMV isolates susceptible or resistant to DNA polymerases inhibitors. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 27;202:105327. Epub 2022 Apr 27.

Research Centre of Biotechnology RAS, 33-2 Leninsky Prospect, 119071, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address:

Herpes simplex keratitis is an important infectious cause of blindness worldwide. The mainstay of antiviral therapy is treatment with long-established nucleoside analogues orally or topically. However, the emergence of resistant strains may become a major health concern in the future. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 20;202:105325. Epub 2022 Apr 20.

National Engineering Research Center for the Emergency Drug, Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Beijing, 100850, China. Electronic address:

Epidemics caused by flaviviruses occur globally; however, no antiviral drugs treating flaviviruses infections have yet been developed. Nafamostat (NM) is a protease inhibitor approved for pancreatitis and anti-coagulation. The anti-flavivirus potential of NM has yet to be determined. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 8;202:105314. Epub 2022 Apr 8.

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medical Laboratory, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui Province 233030, People's Republic of China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Translational Cancer Research, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui Province, 233030, People's Republic of China; Department of Basic Veterinary Medicine College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430070, People's Republic of China. Electronic address:

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a pig disease caused by the PRRS virus (PRRSV) that is characterized with diffuse interstitial pneumonia and lung edema. High expressions of chemokine CXCL10 and its receptor CXCR3 are reported in infected porcine lungs. Since CXCR3 is a key player in host inflammatory response, it might be a therapeutic target to treat lung damage caused by PRRSV infection. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 6;202:105315. Epub 2022 Apr 6.

Department of Infectious Diseases, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China. Electronic address:

Background: Antiviral therapy is not routinely recommended for CHB patients with ALT ≤ ULN (CHB-NALT), based on current international guidelines. However, it is debatable if antiviral treatment should be offered for CHB-NALT patients, because significant liver injury is observed from liver biopsy of some CHB-NALT patients. Quantification of anti-HBc (qAnti-HBc) can predict antiviral response in CHB patients, while its role in CHB-NALT patients remains to be explored. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 5;202:105312. Epub 2022 Apr 5.

Allergy Immunology and Cell Biology Unit, Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka; MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and University of Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK. Electronic address:

Introduction: Dengue virus (DENV) NS1 is a non-structural secretory protein associated with severe disease and known to cause vascular leak leading to dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF). As phospholipases A (PLA) enzymes, platelet activating factor, and leukotrienes are elevated in dengue, we sought to investigate whether NS1 potentially contributes to disease pathogenesis by inducing PLAs.

Methods: THP-1 cells and primary human monocytes of healthy adults (n = 6) were co-cultured with DENV1 NS1, LPS and media alone. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 4;202:105311. Epub 2022 Apr 4.

KU Leuven Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, B-3000, Leuven, Belgium; GVN, Global Virus Network, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address:

Nelfinavir is an HIV protease inhibitor that has been widely prescribed as a component of highly active antiretroviral therapy, and has been reported to exert in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. We here assessed the effect of Nelfinavir in a SARS-CoV-2 infection model in hamsters. Despite the fact that Nelfinavir, [50 mg/kg twice daily (BID) for four consecutive days], did not reduce viral RNA load and infectious virus titres in the lung of infected animals, treatment resulted in a substantial improvement of SARS-CoV-2-induced lung pathology. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 30;201:105296. Epub 2022 Mar 30.

National Engineering Research Center for the Emergency Drug, Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Beijing, China. Electronic address:

Many viruses use the host cell division cycle to facilitate replication. Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are a group of serine/threonine kinases that play a central role in regulating cell cycle progression. However, the prospect of using CDKs for anti-influenza virus treatment remains to be elucidated. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 31;202:105313. Epub 2022 Mar 31.

Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

After decades of being considered non-pathogenic, Zika virus (ZIKV) emerged as an important threat to human health during the epidemic of 2015-2016. ZIKV infections are usually asymptomatic, but can cause Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults and microcephaly in newborns. As there are currently no approved antiviral drugs against ZIKV, we tested anti-ZIKV activity of compounds from the NIH Clinical Collection for which we previously showed antiviral activity against the related dengue virus. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 28;201:105310. Epub 2022 Mar 28.

Division of International Health (Public Health), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan; Infectious Disease Research Center at Niigata University in Myanmar (IDRC), Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.

Data on the clinical effectiveness of the novel anti-influenza drug baloxavir marboxil (baloxavir) in children remain limited. We conducted an observational study to compare the duration of fever and symptoms between baloxavir- and oseltamivir-treated children infected with influenza A and B. In total, 159 outpatients with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 or B/Victoria-lineage infections, aged <19 years, during the 2019-2020 influenza season in Japan were enrolled and assessed the duration of fever and symptoms using the Kaplan-Meier method and a multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 27;201:105299. Epub 2022 Mar 27.

Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Karl Landsteiner Institute of Microbiome Research, St. Pölten, Austria. Electronic address:

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based methods are a fast and sensitive approach to detect and monitor viral load in Cytomegalovirus (CMV) patients. Letermovir (LMV) acts at a late stage during the CMV replication cycle and does not inhibit CMV DNA replication per se. Therefore, quantitative nucleic acid amplification testing might lead to the overestimation of viral load in patients treated with LMV and underestimate treatment success. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 24;201:105297. Epub 2022 Mar 24.

Department of Intractable Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address:

Monoclonal antibody therapy is a promising option for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and a cocktail of antibodies (REGN-COV) has been administered to infected patients with a favorable outcome. However, it is necessary to continue generating novel sets of monoclonal antibodies with neutralizing activity because viral variants can emerge that show resistance to the currently utilized antibodies. Here, we isolated a new cocktail of antibodies, EV053273 and EV053286, from peripheral blood mononuclear cells derived from convalescent patients infected with wild-type SARS-CoV-2. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 24;201:105298. Epub 2022 Mar 24.

State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, 361102, China. Electronic address:

Infections caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) remain a serious global health issue, and the medical countermeasures available thus far are limited. Virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (NAbs) are crucial tools for studying host-virus interactions and designing effective vaccines, and the discovery and development of these NAbs could be one approach to treat or prevent HSV infection. Here, we report the isolation of five HSV NAbs from mice immunized with both HSV-1 and HSV-2. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 May 24;201:105292. Epub 2022 Mar 24.

State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China; International Research Center for Animal Disease, Ministry of Science and Technology of China, Wuhan, 430070, China. Electronic address:

Swine influenza virus (SIV) not only brings about great economic losses on the global pig industry, it also poses a significant threat to the public health for its interspecies transmission capacity. Porcine β-defensin 2 (PBD-2) is a host defense peptide and our previous study has shown that PBD-2 inhibits proliferation of enveloped pseudorabies virus both in vitro and in transgenic (TG) mice. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible anti-SIV ability of PBD-2 in a TG pig model created in our previous study. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Jun 24;202:105295. Epub 2022 Mar 24.

Evotec ID (Lyon), Lyon, France.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has re-emerged as a significant human pathogen in the 21st century, causing periodic, and sometimes widespread, outbreaks over the past 15 years. Although mortality is very rare, a debilitating arthralgia is very common and may persist for months or years. There are no antivirals that are approved for the treatment of CHIKV infection, and current treatment options consist of supportive care only. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 04 23;200:105294. Epub 2022 Mar 23.

KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute, Laboratory of Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address:

Despite recent advancements in the development of vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapies for Ebola virus disease, treatment options remain limited. Moreover, management and containment of Ebola virus outbreaks is often hindered by the remote nature of the locations in which the outbreaks originate. Small-molecule compounds offer the advantage of being relatively cheap and easy to produce, transport and store, making them an interesting modality for the development of novel therapeutics against Ebola virus disease. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Apr 22;200:105293. Epub 2022 Mar 22.

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois Medical Center, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA. Electronic address:

Antiviral Res 2022 04 15;200:105280. Epub 2022 Mar 15.

WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3053, Australia.

A total of 3425 influenza B viruses collected from the Asia-Pacific region were tested against the four registered neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) (oseltamivir carboxylate, zanamivir, peramivir and laninamivir) as part of the routine surveillance work at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Reference on Influenza, Melbourne between 2016 and 2020. Forty-five influenza B viruses with reduced susceptibility to one or more NAIs were identified. While the majority of these had neuraminidase (NA) mutations that were known to confer NAIs resistance, fifteen had NA mutations that had not been confirmed as being responsible for reduced NAIs susceptibility. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 04 14;200:105289. Epub 2022 Mar 14.

The Institutes of Biology and Medical Sciences, Soochow University, China. Electronic address:

For human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) to infect non-dividing cells, pre-integration complex (PIC) must be transported into the nucleus within the replication cycle. We previously reported that the karyopherin β1 (KPNB1)-nucleoporin Pom121 pathway, related to the downstream process of PIC nuclear import, mediates efficient HIV-1 PIC nuclear import. Further, our earlier RNA transcriptome sequencing revealed that karyopherin α2 (KPNA2) was among the differentially expressed importin family members during monocyte to macrophage differentiation. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 04 13;200:105291. Epub 2022 Mar 13.

National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Department of Virology I, Tokyo, 162-8640, Japan. Electronic address:

Bourbon virus (BRBV) is an emerging tick-borne orthomyxovirus that causes severe febrile illness in humans. There are no specific treatments for BRBV disease currently available. Here, we developed a highly accessible and robust, quantitative fluorescence-based BRBV minigenome (MG) system and applied it to high-throughput antiviral drug screening. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 04 13;200:105290. Epub 2022 Mar 13.

Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106, Taiwan; Center of Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106, Taiwan. Electronic address:

Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) are believed to be promising prophylactic and therapeutic treatment against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Here, we reported two mouse monoclonal antibodies 7 Eb-4G and 1Ba-3H that specifically recognized the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein without exhibiting cross-reactivity with the S proteins of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The binding epitopes of 7 Eb-4G and 1Ba-3H were respectively located in the regions of residues 457-476 and 477-496 in the S protein. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 Apr 12;200:105281. Epub 2022 Mar 12.

WHO Collaborating Centre for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Influenza, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton RD NE, MS H17-5, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA.

Global analysis of the susceptibility of influenza viruses to neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors (NAIs) and the polymerase acidic (PA) inhibitor (PAI) baloxavir was conducted by five World Health Organization Collaborating Centres for Reference and Research on Influenza during two periods (May 2018-May 2019 and May 2019-May 2020). Combined phenotypic and NA sequence-based analysis revealed that the global frequency of viruses displaying reduced or highly reduced inhibition (RI or HRI) or potential to show RI/HRI by NAIs remained low, 0.5% (165/35045) and 0. Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 04 11;200:105278. Epub 2022 Mar 11.

Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin - Medical School, Turin, Italy; CAAD Center for Translational Research on Autoimmune and Allergic Disease, University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara Medical School, Italy. Electronic address:

The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, along with the likelihood that new coronavirus strains will appear in the nearby future, highlights the urgent need to develop new effective antiviral agents. In this scenario, emerging host-targeting antivirals (HTAs), which act on host-cell factors essential for viral replication, are a promising class of antiviral compounds. Here we show that a new class of HTAs targeting peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs), a family of calcium-dependent enzymes catalyzing protein citrullination, is endowed with a potent inhibitory activity against human beta-coronaviruses (HCoVs). Read More

Antiviral Res 2022 04 10;200:105276. Epub 2022 Mar 10.

National Research Center for the Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan; Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan. Electronic address:

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) belongs to the genus Orthonairovirus and is the causative agent of a viral hemorrhagic disease with a case fatality rate of 30%. However, limited studies have been conducted to explore antiviral compounds specific to CCHFV. In this study, we developed a minigenome system of orthonairoviruses, CCHFV and Hazara virus to analyze viral replication and screened an FDA-approved compound library. Read More