Serotonergic Drugs Inhibit Chikungunya Virus Infection at Different Stages of the Cell Entry Pathway.
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an important reemerging human pathogen transmitted by mosquitoes. The virus causes an acute febrile illness, chikungunya fever, which is characterized by headache, rash, and debilitating (poly)arthralgia that can reside for months to years after infection. Currently, effective antiviral therapies and vaccines are lacking. Due to the high morbidity and economic burden in the countries affected by CHIKV, there is a strong need for new strategies to inhibit CHIKV replication. The serotonergic drug 5-nonyloxytryptamine (5-NT) was previously identified as a potential host-directed inhibitor for CHIKV infection. In this study, we determined the mechanism of action by which the serotonin receptor agonist 5-NT controls CHIKV infection. Using time-of-addition and entry bypass assays, we found that 5-NT predominantly inhibits CHIKV in the early phases of the replication cycle, at a step prior to RNA translation and genome replication. Intriguingly, however, no effect was seen during virus-cell binding, internalization, membrane fusion and genomic RNA (gRNA) release into the cell cytosol. In addition, we show that the serotonin receptor antagonist methiothepin mesylate (MM) also has antiviral properties toward CHIKV and specifically interferes with the cell entry process and/or membrane fusion. Taken together, pharmacological targeting of 5-HT receptors may represent a potent way to limit viral spread and disease severity.IMPORTANCE The rapid spread of mosquito-borne viral diseases in humans puts a huge economic burden on developing countries. For many of these infections, including those caused by chikungunya virus (CHIKV), there are no specific treatment possibilities to alleviate disease symptoms. Understanding the virus-host interactions that are involved in the viral replication cycle is imperative for the rational design of therapeutic strategies. In this study, we discovered an antiviral compound, elucidated its mechanism of action, and propose serotonergic drugs as potential host-directed antivirals for CHIKV.
['Bouma|Ellen M|EM|', 'van de Pol|Denise P I|DPI|', 'Sanders|Ilson D|ID|', 'Rodenhuis-Zybert|Izabela A|IA|', 'Smit|Jolanda M|JM|']
D000818:Animals D000998:Antiviral Agents D002460:Cell Line D065632:Chikungunya Fever D002646:Chikungunya virus D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops D006801:Humans D008561:Membrane Fusion D012367:RNA, Viral D012701:Serotonin D018490:Serotonin Agents D017366:Serotonin Receptor Agonists D014363:Tryptamines D014709:Vero Cells D053585:Virus Attachment D053586:Virus Internalization D014779:Virus Replication
chikungunya virus 5-NT serotonin receptors MM virus-host interactions host-directed antivirals