Amaryllidaceae Alkaloid Cherylline Inhibits the Replication of Dengue and Zika Viruses
Seydou Ka, Natacha Mérindol, Aïssatou Aïcha Sow, Amita Singh, Karima Landelouci, Mélodie B. Plourde, Geneviève Pépin, Marco Masi, Roberta Di Lecce, Antonio Evidente, Matar Seck, Lionel Berthoux, Laurent Chatel‐Chaix, Isabel Desgagné‐Penix
Abstract
, 20.3 μM) but had no effect on HIV-1 infection. Time-of-drug-addition and -removal experiments identified a postentry step as the one targeted by cherylline. Consistently, using subgenomic replicons and replication-defective genomes, we demonstrate that cherylline specifically hinders the viral RNA synthesis step but not viral translation. In conclusion, AAs are an underestimated source of antiflavivirus compounds, including the effective inhibitor cherylline, which could be optimized for new therapeutic approaches.