Broad Antiviral Activity of Ginkgolic Acid against Chikungunya, Mayaro, Una, and Zika Viruses

Abstract

The alphaviruses Chikungunya (CHIKV), Mayaro (MAYV), Una (UNAV), and the flavivirus Zika (ZIKV) are emerging or re-emerging arboviruses which are responsible for frequent epidemic outbreaks. Despite the large impact of these arboviruses on health systems, there are no approved vaccines or treatments to fight these infections. As a consequence, there is an urgent need to discover new antiviral drugs. Natural products are a rich source of compounds with distinct biological activities, including antiviral properties. Thus, we aimed to explore the potential antiviral activity of Ginkgolic acid against the arboviruses CHIKV, MAYV, UNAV, and ZIKV. Viral progeny production in supernatants from cells treated or not treated with Ginkgolic acid was quantified by plaque-forming assay. Ginkgolic acid’s direct virucidal activity against these arboviruses was also determined. Additionally, viral protein expression was assessed using Western blot and immunofluorescence. Our results reveal that Ginkgolic acid promotes a dose-dependent decrease in viral titers in all tested viruses. Moreover, the compound demonstrated strong virucidal activity. Finally, we found that viral protein expression was affected by treatment with this drug. Collectively, these findings suggest that Ginkgolic acid could have broader antiviral activity.

Antiviral Strategies against Arthritogenic Alphaviruses

“…Several natural products have been reported to exert virucidal activity against arthritogenic alphaviruses [ 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Such compounds directly interact with the viral particle, leading to virus inactivation.…”

“…The phospholipases A2 (PLA2s) from snake ( Crotalus durissus terrificus ) venom have been reported to have a virucidal effect against several enveloped viruses, including CHIKV [ 44 ]. Another example is ginkgolic acid, isolated from the Ginkgo biloba plant, which has been recently shown to inhibit the in vitro replication of CHIKV and MAYV through a direct virucidal effect [ 45 ]. Dolastane (isolated from Seaweed Canistrocarpus cervicornis ) also had potent virucidal activity against CHIKV [ 46 ].…”

Metabolomics applied in the study of emerging arboviruses caused by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes: A review

“…The treatment of these diseases lacks available medicine due to the misunderstanding of the molecular mechanism of virus biology and the absence of an animal model for preclinical testing. In general, palliative care with analgesics and anti-inflammatories are used for pain and arthralgia in CHIKV patients [48,52,53]. Also, for DENV, some antivirals and corticosteroids have been tested [39].…”

The Bibliometric Landscape of Infectious Disease Research in Panama (1990 - 2019): An Evaluation of the Country’s Capability on One Health

“…Panama's One Health research program will need to cover research efforts oriented towards eld monitoring and ecological understanding of highly pathogenic disease agents, and the animal hosts that act as reservoirs or vectors in both natural and anthropogenic environments [20,21]. Nevertheless, the focus should also be extended to experimental research, basic epidemiology, mathematical modeling, molecular ecology, clinical trials and social sciences [63] (Table 2). Furthermore, One health's research efforts in Panama need to tackle not only diseases that are transmitted by arthropods, but also sexual, respiratory, and fecal-oral parasitic infections plus chronic and noninfectious health-related issues such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, and neurodegenerative illnesses, which have not been studied comprehensively in the country thus far [56].…”