In Vitro Inhibition of Alphaviruses by Lycorine.

Abstract

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne alphavirus. As an emerging virus, CHIKV imposes a threat to public health. Currently, there are no vaccines or antivirals available for the prevention of CHIKV infection. Lycorine, an alkaloid from Amaryllidaceae plants, has antiviral activity against a number of viruses such as coronavirus, flavivirus and enterovirus. In this study, we found that lycorine could inhibit CHIKV in cell culture at a concentration of 10 μmol/L without apparent cytotoxicity. In addition, it exhibited broad-spectrum anti-alphavirus activity, including Sindbis virus (SINV), Semliki Forest virus (SFV), and Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus (VEEV). The time of addition studies indicated that lycorine functions at an early post-entry stage of CHIKV life cycle. The results based on two different CHIKV replicons provided further evidence that lycorine exerts its antiviral activity mainly by inhibiting CHIKV translation. Overall, our study extends the antiviral spectrum of lycorine.

• Authors: Na Li, Zhen Wang, Rui Wang, Zhe-Rui Zhang, Ya-Nan Zhang, Cheng-Lin Deng, Bo Zhang, Lu-Qing Shang, Han-Qing Ye
• Journal: Virologica Sinica (Virol Sin) Vol. 36 Issue 6 Pg. 1465-1474 (Dec 2021) ISSN: 1995-820X [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 34374926 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2021. Wuhan Institute of Virology, CAS.

Chemical References

• Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids
• Phenanthridines
• lycorine

Topics

• Alphavirus (drug effects, physiology)
• Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids (pharmacology)
• Animals
• Cell Line
• Chikungunya virus (drug effects, physiology)
• Phenanthridines (pharmacology)
• Semliki forest virus
• Sindbis Virus
• Virus Replication