Identification of cap-dependent endonuclease inhibitors with broad-spectrum activity against bunyaviruses.

Viral hemorrhagic fevers caused by members of the order Bunyavirales comprise endemic and emerging human infections that are significant public health concerns. Despite the disease severity, there are few therapeutic options available, and therefore effective antiviral drugs are urgently needed to reduce disease burdens. Bunyaviruses, like influenza viruses (IFVs), possess a cap-dependent endonuclease (CEN) that mediates the critical cap-snatching step of viral RNA transcription. We screened compounds from our CEN inhibitor (CENi) library and identified specific structural compounds that are 100 to 1,000 times more active in vitro than ribavirin against bunyaviruses, including Lassa virus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), and Junin virus. To investigate their inhibitory mechanism of action, drug-resistant viruses were selected in culture. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that amino acid substitutions in the CEN region of drug-resistant viruses were located in similar positions as those of the CEN α3-helix loop of IFVs derived under drug selection. Thus, our studies suggest that CENi compounds inhibit both bunyavirus and IFV replication in a mechanistically similar manner. Structural analysis revealed that the side chain of the carboxyl group at the seventh position of the main structure of the compound was essential for the high antiviral activity against bunyaviruses. In LCMV-infected mice, the compounds significantly decreased blood viral load, suppressed symptoms such as thrombocytopenia and hepatic dysfunction, and improved survival rates. These data suggest a potential broad-spectrum clinical utility of CENis for the treatment of both severe influenza and hemorrhagic diseases caused by bunyaviruses.

A Novel Combination of Prion Strain Co-Occurrence in Patients with Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Six subgroups of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease have been identified by distinctive clinicopathologic features, genotype at polymorphic codon 129 [methionine (M)/valine (V)] of the PRNP gene, and type of abnormal prion proteins (type 1 or 2). In addition to the pure subgroups, mixed neuropathologic features and the coexistence of two types of abnormal prion proteins in the same patient also have been reported. Here, we found that a portion of the patients previously diagnosed as MM1 had neuropathologic characteristics of the MM2 thalamic form (ie, neuronal loss of the inferior olivary nucleus of the medulla). Furthermore, coexistence of biochemical features of the MM2 thalamic form also was confirmed in the identified cases. In addition, in transmission experiments using prion protein-humanized mice, the brain material from the identified case showed weak infectivity and generated characteristic abnormal prion proteins in the inoculated mice resembling those after inoculation with brain material of MM2 thalamic form. Taken together, these results show that the co-occurrence of MM1 and MM2 thalamic form is a novel entity of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prion strain co-occurrence. The present study raises the possibility that the co-occurrence of the MM2 thalamic form might have been overlooked so far because of the scarcity of abnormal prion protein accumulation and restricted neuropathology.

Generation of recombinant rabies viruses encoding NanoLuc luciferase for antiviral activity assays.

Rabies is an invariably fatal disease caused by Rabies virus (RABV), a member of the family Rhabdoviridae, genus Lyssavirus. Once central nervous infection occurs and symptoms develop, the case fatality rate approaches 100% despite availability of post-exposure prophylaxis. Therefore, new antiviral therapies for rabies are urgently required. Antivirals which can inhibit virus replication can be identified through screening of small compounds, however, as RABV infection does not generate easily discernible cytopathic effects in vitro, cell viability assays may not be feasible to observe antiviral activity of small compounds against RABV. In this study, recombinant RABVs (rRABVs) encoding NanoLuc luciferase (NanoLuc) were generated to facilitate the screening of small compound libraries. NanoLuc expression was confirmed in single-step growth cures of virus infection and showed that the rRABVs were capable of viral replication without decrease of luciferase activity through ten serial passages. Furthermore, the rRABVs were able to quantify the antiviral activity of the nucleoside analogue ribavirin against RABV in vitro. These findings confirm the potential of the rRABV encoding NanoLuc system to facilitate screening of small compounds to inhibit RABV infection.

Topoisomerase I and ATP activate cDNA synthesis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

Replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is regulated at reverse transcription. Cellular topoisomerase I has been reported to be carried into HIV-1 virions and enhance cDNA synthesis in vitro, suggesting that topoisomerase I expressed in virus producer cells regulates reverse transcription. Here, by employing both indicator cell assay and endogenous reverse transcription (ERT) assay, we show that topoisomerase I and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) enhanced cDNA synthesis of HIV-1. In addition, topoisomerase I mutants, R488A and K532A, lacking enzymatic activity, attenuated the efficiency of cDNA synthesis and resulted in inhibition of the infectivity of HIV-1, suggesting that the activity of topoisomerase I lacking in these mutants is indispensable for the cDNA synthesis in the HIV-1 replication process. Furthermore, ATP could dissociate topoisomerase I from the topoisomerase I-RNA complex and enhance cDNA synthesis in vitro. These findings suggest that cellular topoisomerase I and ATP play a pivotal role in the synthesis of cDNA of HIV-1.