Rabies is caused by infection of rabies virus(RABV)and remains a serious threat to the global public health.Except for the requirement for cold chain and high cost of human rabies immune globulin,no small molecule dru...Rabies is caused by infection of rabies virus(RABV)and remains a serious threat to the global public health.Except for the requirement for cold chain and high cost of human rabies immune globulin,no small molecule drugs are currently available for clinical treatment of rabies.So,it is of great importance to identify novel compounds that can effectively inhibit RABV infection.Artesunate(ART)and dihydroartemisinin(DHA),two derivatives of artemisinin,are widely used for treatment of malaria in adults and children,showing high safety.In this study,we found that both ART and DHA were able to inhibit RABV replication in host cells at a low concentration(0.1μmol/L).The antiviral effects of ART and DHA were independent of viral strains and cell lines.Pre-treatment with ART or DHA for 2 h in vitro did not affect the viral replication in host cells,implying that ART and DHA neither reduced the viability of RABV directly nor inhibited the binding and entrance of the virus to host cells.Further studies revealed that ART and DHA inhibited RABV genomic RNA synthesis and viral gene transcription.Treatment with ART or DHA(5 mg/kg)by intramuscular injection improved,to some extent,the survival rate of RABV-challenged mice.Combination treatment with derivatives of artemisinin and mannitol significantly improved the survival rate of RABV-challenged mice.The results suggest that ART and DHA have a great potential to be explored as new anti-rabies agents for treatment of rabies.展开更多
基金We thank Dr.Xianzhu Xia(Academy of Military Medical Sciences)for providing the CVS-11 virus.We thank Dr.Zhenfang Fu(Huazhong Agricultural University)for providing the CVS-24 virus.This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFD0500400)National Natural Science Foundation of China(31772742)Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong(2015A03031103).
文摘Rabies is caused by infection of rabies virus(RABV)and remains a serious threat to the global public health.Except for the requirement for cold chain and high cost of human rabies immune globulin,no small molecule drugs are currently available for clinical treatment of rabies.So,it is of great importance to identify novel compounds that can effectively inhibit RABV infection.Artesunate(ART)and dihydroartemisinin(DHA),two derivatives of artemisinin,are widely used for treatment of malaria in adults and children,showing high safety.In this study,we found that both ART and DHA were able to inhibit RABV replication in host cells at a low concentration(0.1μmol/L).The antiviral effects of ART and DHA were independent of viral strains and cell lines.Pre-treatment with ART or DHA for 2 h in vitro did not affect the viral replication in host cells,implying that ART and DHA neither reduced the viability of RABV directly nor inhibited the binding and entrance of the virus to host cells.Further studies revealed that ART and DHA inhibited RABV genomic RNA synthesis and viral gene transcription.Treatment with ART or DHA(5 mg/kg)by intramuscular injection improved,to some extent,the survival rate of RABV-challenged mice.Combination treatment with derivatives of artemisinin and mannitol significantly improved the survival rate of RABV-challenged mice.The results suggest that ART and DHA have a great potential to be explored as new anti-rabies agents for treatment of rabies.
