Peer Review #2 of "Ficus septica plant extracts for treating Dengue virus in vitro (v0.1)"

Abstract

Dengue virus type 1-4 (DENV-1-4) are positive-strand RNA viruses with an envelope that belong to the Flaviviridae. DENV infection threatens human health worldwide. However, other than supportive treatments, no specific therapy is available for the infection. To discover novel medicine against DENV, we tested 59 crude extracts, without cytotoxicity, from 23 plants in vitro; immunofluorescence assay revealed that the methanol extracts of fruit, heartwood, leaves and stem from Ficus septica Burm. f. had a promising anti-DENV-1 and DENV-2 effect. However, infection with the non-envelope picornavirus, Aichi virus, was not inhibited by treatment with F. septica extracts. F. septica may be a candidate antiviral drug against an enveloped virus such as DENV.