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The antimalarial drug amodiaquine possesses anti‐ZIKA virus activities
Author(s) -
Han Yingshan,
Mesplède Thibault,
Xu Hongtao,
Quan Yudong,
Wainberg Mark A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.25031
Subject(s) - amodiaquine , zika virus , virology , drug repositioning , medicine , dengue virus , repurposing , dengue fever , virus , antiviral drug , drug , chloroquine , malaria , pharmacology , biology , immunology , ecology
Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak has emerged as a global health threat, particularly in tropical areas, over the past few years. No antiviral therapy or vaccine is available at present. For these reasons, repurposing clinically approved drugs against ZIKV infection may provide rapid and cost‐effective global health benefits. Here, we explored this strategy and screened eight FDA‐approved drugs for antiviral activity against ZIKV using a cell‐based assay. Our results show that the antimalarial drug amodiaquine has anti‐ZIKV activity with EC 50 at low micromolar concentrations in cell culture. We further characterized amodiaquine antiviral activity against ZIKV and found that it targets early events of the viral replication cycle. Altogether, our results suggest that amodiaquine may be efficacious for the treatment of ZIKV infection.