Screening of melatonin, α-tocopherol, folic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine and resveratrol for anti-dengue 2 virus activity

Abstract

ObjectiveInfections with the mosquito transmitted dengue virus (DENV) are a significant public health burden in many parts of the world. Despite the introduction of a commercial vaccine in some parts of the world, the majority of the populations at risk of infection remain unprotected against this disease, and there is currently no treatment for DENV infection. Natural compounds offer the prospect of cheap and sustainable therapeutics to reduce the disease burden during infection, and thus potentially alleviate the risk of more severe disease. This study evaluated the potential anti-DENV 2 activity of five natural compounds namely melatonin, α-tocopherol, folic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine and resveratrol in two different cell lines.ResultsScreening of the compounds showed that one compound (acetyl-l-carnitine) showed no effect on DENV infection, three compounds (melatonin, α-tocopherol and folic acid) slightly increased levels of infection, while the 5th compound, resveratrol, showed some limited anti-DENV activity, with resveratrol reducing virus output with an EC50 of less than 25 μM. These results suggest that some commonly taken natural compounds may have beneficial effects on DENV infection, but that others may potentially add to the disease burden.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3417-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Melatonin potentials against viral infections including COVID-19: Current evidence and new findings

“…Melatonin also has beneficial properties in controlling animal models of West Nile virus ( Ben-Nathan et al, 1995 ) and Semliki Forest virus ( Ben-Nathan et al, 1995 ). Furthermore, melatonin has slight proviral impacts upon dengue virus type-2 infection in HEK293 T/17 cells, but no impact was observed in HepG2 cell ( Paemanee et al, 2018 ). Altogether, antiviral effects of melatonin should be further proved, especially in human studies.…”

Doratoxylon apetalum, an Indigenous Medicinal Plant from Mascarene Islands, Is a Potent Inhibitor of Zika and Dengue Virus Infection in Human Cells

“…Several phytochemical families including polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids and curcuminoids have been reported to inhibit flavivirus infection [18,21,22,24,25,26,27]. It has been demonstrated that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) from green tea, isoquercitrin (Q3G) and curcumin impair ZIKV and DENV infection [17,18,21,28,29,30]. We described that EGCG acts on the early stage of ZIKV and DENV infection by inhibiting the binding of the virus to the cell surface [12,24,29], whereas Q3G inhibits the internalisation process of ZIKV infection in human cells [22].…”

Therapeutic Algorithm for Use of Melatonin in Patients With COVID-19

“…Melatonin has been shown to be clinically useful in sepsis (43), where the clinical features parallel those of COVID-19 viral infection; moreover, melatonin has been demonstrated to relieve many of the symptoms of other viral infections (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)48). Given the current worldwide situation and in consideration of evidence-based medicine, the efficacy of melatonin and its high pharmacological safety profile supports its use in the treatment of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.…”