Assessment of the broad-spectrum host targeting antiviral efficacy of halofuginone hydrobromide in human airway, intestinal and brain organotypic models.
Inés García-Rodríguez, Giulia Moreni, Pamela E. Capendale, Lance Mulder, Ikrame Aknouch, Renata Vieira de Sá, Nina Johannesson, Eline Freeze, Hetty van Eijk, Gerrit Koen, Katja C. Wolthers, Dasja Pajkrt, Adithya Sridhar, Carlemi Calitz
Abstract
Halofuginone hydrobromide has shown potent antiviral efficacy against a variety of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, dengue, or chikungunya virus, and has, therefore, been hypothesized to have broad-spectrum antiviral activity. In this paper, we tested this broad-spectrum antiviral activity of Halofuginone hydrobomide against viruses from different families (Picornaviridae, Herpesviridae, Orthomyxoviridae, Coronaviridae, and Flaviviridae). To this end, we used relevant human models of the airway and intestinal epithelium and regionalized neural organoids. Halofuginone hydrobomide showed antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 in the airway epithelium with no toxicity at equivalent concentrations used in human clinical trials but not against any of the other tested viruses.