Antiviral activity of silymarin against chikungunya virus

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Rafidah Lani, University Malaya; Pouya Hassandarvish, University Malaya; Chun Wei Chiam, University Malaya; Ehsan Moghaddam, University Malaya; Justin Jang Hann Chu, National University of Singapore; Kai Rausalu, University of Tartu; Andres Merits, University of Tartu; Stephen Higgs, Kansas State University; Dana Vanlandingham, Kansas State University; Sazaly Abu Bakar, University Malaya; Keivan Zandi, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2015-06-16
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group: Open Access Journals - Option C
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep11421
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Scientific Reports
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 11421
• End Page: 11421
• Grant/Funding Information: We also would like to thank University of Malaya for Postgraduate (PPP) grant (Grant No.: PG037-2013B).; We would like to thank Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia, for High Impact Research (HIR) MOHE Grant (E000087-20001) and for Long-Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS) (LR001-2011F).
• Keywords: Multidisciplinary Sciences; FLAVONOIDS; ARTHRITIS; ENTRY; IN-VITRO; Science & Technology; HCV INFECTION; RNA; STRAND; Science & Technology - Other Topics; REPLICATION; ARBIDOL; MALAYSIA
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Biology, Microbiology

Abstract

The mosquito-borne chikungunya virus (CHIKV) causes chikungunya fever, with clinical presentations such as severe back and small joint pain, and debilitating arthritis associated with crippling pains that persist for weeks and even years. Although there are several studies to evaluate the efficacy of drugs against CHIKV, the treatment for chikungunya fever is mainly symptom-based and no effective licensed vaccine or antiviral are available. Here, we investigated the antiviral activity of three types of flavonoids against CHIKV in vitro replication. Three compounds: silymarin, quercetin and kaempferol were evaluated for their in vitro antiviral activities against CHIKV using a CHIKV replicon cell line and clinical isolate of CHIKV of Central/East African genotype. A cytopathic effect inhibition assay was used to determine their activities on CHIKV viral replication and quantitative reverse transcription PCR was used to calculate virus yield. Antiviral activity of effective compound was further investigated by evaluation of CHIKV protein expression using western blotting for CHIKV nsP<inf>1</inf>, nsP<inf>3</inf>, and E<inf>2</inf>E<inf>1</inf> proteins. Briefly, silymarin exhibited significant antiviral activity against CHIKV, reducing both CHIKV replication efficiency and down-regulating production of viral proteins involved in replication. This study may have important consequence for broaden the chance of getting the effective antiviral for CHIKV infection.