Cryptoporic acid E from Cryptoporusvolvatus inhibits influenza virus replication in vitro

Influenza virus infection is a global public health issue.The effectiveness of antiviral agents for influenza has been limited by the emergence of drugresistant virus strains.Therefore,there is an urgent need to identify novel antiviral therapies.Our previous studies have found that Cryptoporus volvatus extract could potently inhibit influenza virus replication in vitro and in vivo.However,the effective component of Cryptoporus volvatus which mediated the antiviral activity hasn′t been identified.Here,we identified a novel anti-influenza molecule,cryptoporic acid E(CAE),from Cryptoporus volvatus.Our results showed that CAE had broad-spectrum anti-influenza activity against 2009 pandemic strain A/Beijing/07/2009(H1N1/09),seasonal strain A/Jiangxi/262/05(H3N2),mouse adapted strains A/WSN/33(H1N1)and A/PR8/34(H1N1).We further investigated the mode of CAE action,and found that CAE directlyattenuated influenza virus infectivity.Time-course-analysis indicated that CAE exerted its inhibition mainly at middle stage of the replication cycle of influenza virus.Subsequently,we confirmed that CAE blocked virus RNA replication and transcription in MDCK cells and CAE repressed influenza virus RNA polymerase activity.In addition,we found that CAE impaired influenza virus infectivity by directly targeting virus particles.Our data suggest that CAE is a major effective component of Cryptoporus volvatus and might be a potential candidate for the development of a new anti-influenza virus therapy.