Antiviral activity of the FDA-approved drug candesartan cilexetil against Zika virus infection.

In this study, we utilised a phenotype-based screening platform to perform a high-throughput screen on a 1172-compound US FDA-approved drug library to identify potential novel inhibitors against ZIKV. Candesartan cilexetil, an angiotensin II receptor inhibitor, displayed potent inhibition effects against ZIKV and subsequent downstream time-course studies revealed that it targets a post-entry stage(s) of the ZIKV replication cycle. Moreover, candesartan cilexetil also inhibited viral RNA production and viral protein synthesis. Candesartan cilexetil also exhibited antiviral effects against Dengue virus serotype-2 (DENV2), Kunjin virus (KUNV) and Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), indicating that its antiviral properties may not be restricted to ZIKV. Our study has demonstrated for the first time the potential application of candesartan cilexetil as an antiviral. PMID: 31669333 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Antiviral Research - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Antiviral Res Source Type: research