Background Currently available anti-influenza drugs are often associated with limitations such as toxicity and the appearance of drug-resistant strains. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the development of novel, safe and more efficient antiviral agents. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) and PEGylated zinc oxide nanoparticles against H1N1 influenza virus. Methods The nanoparticles were characterized using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, x-ray diffraction analysis, and electron microscopy. MTT assay was applied to assess the cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles, and anti-influenza activity was determined by TCID50 and quantitative Real-Time PCR assays. To study the inhibitory impact of nanoparticles on the expression of viral antigens, an indirect immunofluorescence assay was also performed. Results Post-exposure of influenza virus with PEGylated ZnO-NPs and bare ZnO-NPs at the highest non-toxic concentrations could be led to 2.8 and 1.2 log10 TCID50 reduction in virus titer when compared to the virus control, respectively (P < 0.0001). At the highest non-toxic concentrations, the PEGylated and unPEGylated ZnO-NPs led to inhibition rates of 94.6% and 52.2%, respectively, which were calculated based on the viral loads. There was a substantial decrease in fluorescence emission intensity in viral-infected cell treated with PEGylated ZnO-NPs compared to the positive control. Conclusions Taken together, our study indicated that PEGylated ZnO-NPs could be a novel, effective, and promising antiviral agent against H1N1 influenza virus infection, and future studies can be designed to explore the exact antiviral mechanism of these nanoparticles.

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The small nucleolar RNA host genes (SNHGs) belong to the long non-coding RNAs and are reported to be able to influence all three levels of cellular information-bearing molecules, that is, DNA, RNA, and proteins, resulting in the generation of complex phenomena. As the host genes of the small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), they are commonly localized in the nucleolus, where they exert multiple regulatory functions orchestrating cellular homeostasis and differentiation as well as metastasis and chemoresistance. Indeed, worldwide literature has reported their involvement in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of different histotypes of cancer, being able to exploit peculiar features, for example, the possibility to act both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Moreover, SNHGs regulation is a fundamental topic to better understand their role in tumor progression albeit such mechanism is still debated. Here, we reviewed the biological functions of SNHGs in particular in the EMT process and discussed the perspectives for new cancer therapies.