Metformin inhibits Zika virus infection in trophoblast cell line

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) infections have been associated with severe clinical outcomes, including neurological manifestations, especially in newborns with intrauterine infection. However, no licensed vaccines or specific antiviral agents are available yet. Therefore, safe and low-cost therapy is required, especially for pregnant women. In this sense, metformin, an FDA-approved drug used to treat gestational diabetes, has previously exhibited an effect anti-ZIKA in vitro in HUVEC cells by activating AMPK. In this study, we evaluated metformin treatment during in vitro ZIKV infection in a permissive trophoblast cell line JEG3. Our results demonstrate that metformin impacts viral replication and protein synthesis and reverts the cytoskeletal changes promoted by ZIKV infection. Beyond this, lipid droplet formation is reduced, which is associated with the lipogenic activation of infection. Taken together, our findings indicate that metformin has potential as an antiviral agent against in vitro ZIKV infection in trophoblastic cells.