Caffeic Acid Has Antiviral Activity against Ilhéus Virus In Vitro

Marielena Vogel Saivish; Carolina Colombelli Pacca; Vivaldo Gomes da Costa; Gabriela de Lima Menezes; Roosevelt Alves da Silva; Liliane Nebo; Gislaine Celestino Dutra da Silva; Bruno Henrique Gonçalves de Aguiar Milhim; Igor da Silva Teixeira; Tiago Henrique; Natalia Franco Bueno Mistrão; Victor Miranda Hernandes; Nathalia Zini; Ana Carolina de Carvalho; Marina Alves Fontoura; Paula Rahal; Lívia Sacchetto; Rafael Elias Marques; Maurício Lacerda Nogueira

doi:10.3390/v15020494

Caffeic Acid Has Antiviral Activity against Ilhéus Virus In Vitro

Viruses. 2023 Feb 10;15(2):494. doi: 10.3390/v15020494.

Authors

Marielena Vogel Saivish^{1

2}, Carolina Colombelli Pacca^{1

3

4}, Vivaldo Gomes da Costa³, Gabriela de Lima Menezes^{5

6}, Roosevelt Alves da Silva⁶, Liliane Nebo⁶, Gislaine Celestino Dutra da Silva¹, Bruno Henrique Gonçalves de Aguiar Milhim¹, Igor da Silva Teixeira¹, Tiago Henrique⁷, Natalia Franco Bueno Mistrão¹, Victor Miranda Hernandes¹, Nathalia Zini¹, Ana Carolina de Carvalho², Marina Alves Fontoura², Paula Rahal³, Lívia Sacchetto¹, Rafael Elias Marques², Maurício Lacerda Nogueira^{1

2

8}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratório de Pesquisas em Virologia, Departamento de Doenças Dermatológicas, Infecciosas e Parasitárias, Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto 15090-000, SP, Brazil.
² Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory, Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM), Campinas 13083-100, SP, Brazil.
³ Laboratório de Estudos Genômicos, Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista, São José do Rio Preto 15054-000, SP, Brazil.
⁴ Faceres Medical School, São José do Rio Preto 15090-000, SP, Brazil.
⁵ Departamento de Biofísica e Farmacologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59072-970, RN, Brazil.
⁶ Unidade Especial de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal de Jataí, Jataí 75801-615, GO, Brazil.
⁷ Laboratório de Marcadores Moleculares e Bioinformática, Departamento de Biologia Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto 15090-000, SP, Brazil.
⁸ Department of Pathology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.

Abstract

Ilhéus virus (ILHV) is a neglected mosquito-borne flavivirus. ILHV infection may lead to Ilhéus fever, an emerging febrile disease like dengue fever with the potential to evolve into a severe neurological disease characterized by meningoencephalitis; no specific treatments are available for this disease. This study assessed the antiviral properties of caffeic acid, an abundant component of plant-based food products that is also compatible with the socioeconomic limitations associated with this neglected infectious disease. The in vitro activity of caffeic acid on ILHV replication was investigated in Vero and A549 cell lines using plaque assays, quantitative RT-PCR, and immunofluorescence assays. We observed that 500 µM caffeic acid was virucidal against ILHV. Molecular docking indicated that caffeic acid might interact with an allosteric binding site on the envelope protein.

Keywords: Ilhéus virus; antiviral activity; caffeic acid; in silico analysis; inhibition.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

A549 Cells
Allosteric Site
Animals
Antiviral Agents* / pharmacology
Humans
Molecular Docking Simulation

Substances

caffeic acid
Antiviral Agents

Grants and funding

This research was funded by grant 2013/21719-3 from FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo). M.L.N. is partially supported by the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Disease via The Coordinating Research on Emerging Arboviral Threats Encompassing the Neotropics (CREATE-NEO) grant U01AI151807 awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH/USA). M.L.N., P.R. and R.E.M are CNPq Research Fellows. M.V.S. was supported by a FAPESP PhD Scholarship, process 2020/12875-5. G.L.M. was supported by a CAPES PhD Scholarship, process 88887.659079/2021-00. V.G.d.C. was supported by a Unesp Post-doctoral Scholarship, with project n. 4320 (Edital PROPe 13/2022). A.C.d.C. was supported by a FAPESP PhD Scholarship, process 2018/02993-0. M.A.F. was supported by a CNPq PhD Scholarship, process 141253/2019-3.