Four FDA-approved drugs exhibited inhibition effect on severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus in vitro

摘要

Objective:To screen the anti-SFTSV drugs from 1430 FDA-approved drugs via mini-genome system,and to investigate which stage of the infection process could be suppressed by the identified drugs.Methods:The SFTSV mini-genome system was used to screen drugs with inhibitory effect on SFTSV replication and transcription,and the 50%inhibitory concentration(IC_(50))of each drug was calculated by drug concentration gradient inhibition experiment.Drugs were used to pre-incubate with virus and then incubate with cells,to incubate with virus and cells simultaneously,to incubate with cells after virus invading into cells,or to incubate during the whole infection process,and then qRT-PCR was used to measure the viral RNA copies in the culture supernatant.These experiments were performed to quantitatively determine the inhibition effects of drugs on SFTSV indifferent stages of the whole process including virion stability,entry and post-entry stages,so as to clarify the inhibition mechanism of these drugs.Results:Four drugs including Mycophenolate mofetil,Mycophenolic acid,Nitazoxanide,and Vidofludimus were identified having efficient inhibitory effects on SFTSV RNA replication via minigenome system,with the IC_(50) of 0.014μmol/L,0.627μmol/L,1.283μmol/L,and 0.059μmol/L,respectively.All four drugs showed effective inhibition when adding during the whole SFTSV infection process as well as the post-entry stage.Conclusion:Mycophenolate mofetil,Mycophenolic acid,Nitazoxanide and Vidofludimus show efficient anti-viral effects on SFTSV infection.