1. Repurposing of the anti-malaria drug chloroquine for Zika Virus treatment and prophylaxis
- Author
-
Alex Y. Strongin, Chun-Teng Huang, Nicholas Sheets, Isabella Rodrigues Fernandes, Antonella Pinto, Sergey A. Shiryaev, Alysson R. Muotri, Pinar Mesci, Alexey V. Terskikh, Sujan Shresta, and Chen Farhy
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Microcephaly ,lcsh:Medicine ,Zika virus ,Mice ,Neural Stem Cells ,Chloroquine ,Medicine ,lcsh:Science ,media_common ,Multidisciplinary ,biology ,Transmission (medicine) ,Zika Virus Infection ,3. Good health ,Infectious Diseases ,5.1 Pharmaceuticals ,Gestation ,Development of treatments and therapeutic interventions ,Infection ,medicine.drug ,Drug ,Offspring ,media_common.quotation_subject ,030106 microbiology ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Antimalarials ,Rare Diseases ,Spheroids, Cellular ,Animals ,Humans ,business.industry ,Animal ,Prevention ,lcsh:R ,Drug Repositioning ,Zika Virus ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Virology ,Malaria ,Vector-Borne Diseases ,Disease Models, Animal ,030104 developmental biology ,Orphan Drug ,Good Health and Well Being ,Disease Models ,lcsh:Q ,Cellular ,Spheroids ,business - Abstract
One of the major challenges of the current Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic is to prevent congenital foetal abnormalities, including microcephaly, following ZIKV infection of pregnant women. Given the urgent need for ZIKV prophylaxis and treatment, repurposing of approved drugs appears to be a viable and immediate solution. We demonstrate that the common anti-malaria drug chloroquine (CQ) extends the lifespan of ZIKV-infected interferon signalling-deficient AG129 mice. However, the severity of ZIKV infection in these mice precludes the study of foetal (vertical) viral transmission. Here, we show that interferon signalling-competent SJL mice support chronic ZIKV infection. Infected dams and sires are both able to transmit ZIKV to the offspring, making this an ideal model for in vivo validation of compounds shown to suppress ZIKV in cell culture. Administration of CQ to ZIKV-infected pregnant SJL mice during mid-late gestation significantly attenuated vertical transmission, reducing the ZIKV load in the foetal brain more than 20-fold. Given the limited side effects of CQ, its lack of contraindications in pregnant women, and its worldwide availability and low cost, we suggest that CQ could be considered for the treatment and prophylaxis of ZIKV.
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF