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RNAi-based small molecule repositioning reveals clinically approved urea-based kinase inhibitors as broadly active antivirals.

ABSTRACT: Influenza viruses (IVs) tend to rapidly develop resistance to virus-directed vaccines and common antivirals targeting pathogen determinants, but novel host-directed approaches might preclude resistance development. To identify the most promising cellular targets for a host-directed approach against influenza, we performed a comparative small interfering RNA (siRNA) loss-of-function screen of IV replication in A549 cells. Analysis of four different IV strains including a highly pathogenic avian H5N1 strain, an influenza B virus (IBV) and two human influenza A viruses (IAVs) revealed 133 genes required by all four IV strains. According to gene enrichment analyses, these strain-independent host genes were particularly enriched for nucleocytoplasmic trafficking. In addition, 360 strain-specific genes were identified with distinct patterns of usage for IAVs versus IBV and human versus avian IVs. The strain-independent host genes served to define 43 experimental and otherwise clinically approved drugs, targeting reportedly fourteen of the encoded host factors. Amongst the approved drugs, the urea-based kinase inhibitors (UBKIs) regorafenib and sorafenib exhibited a superior therapeutic window of high IV antiviral activity and low cytotoxicity. Both UBKIs appeared to block a cell signaling pathway involved in IV replication after internalization, yet prior to vRNP uncoating. Interestingly, both compounds were active also against unrelated viruses including cowpox virus (CPXV), hantavirus (HTV), herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1) and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and showed antiviral efficacy in human primary respiratory cells. An in vitro resistance development analysis for regorafenib failed to detect IV resistance development against this drug. Taken together, the otherwise clinically approved UBKIs regorafenib and sorafenib possess high and broad-spectrum antiviral activity along with substantial robustness against resistance development and thus constitute attractive host-directed drug candidates against a range of viral infections including influenza.

SUBMITTER: Lesch M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6422253 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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RNAi-based small molecule repositioning reveals clinically approved urea-based kinase inhibitors as broadly active antivirals.

Lesch Markus M Luckner Madlen M Meyer Michael M Weege Friderike F Gravenstein Isabella I Raftery Martin M Sieben Christian C Martin-Sancho Laura L Imai-Matsushima Aki A Welke Robert-William RW Frise Rebecca R Barclay Wendy W Schönrich Günther G Herrmann Andreas A Meyer Thomas F TF Karlas Alexander A

PLoS pathogens 20190318 3

Influenza viruses (IVs) tend to rapidly develop resistance to virus-directed vaccines and common antivirals targeting pathogen determinants, but novel host-directed approaches might preclude resistance development. To identify the most promising cellular targets for a host-directed approach against influenza, we performed a comparative small interfering RNA (siRNA) loss-of-function screen of IV replication in A549 cells. Analysis of four different IV strains including a highly pathogenic avian H ...[more]

PMID: 30883607

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Project description:Classical antiviral therapy inhibit viral proteins and are subject to resistance. To counteract this emergence, alternative strategy has been developed that target cellular factors. We hypothesized that such approach could also be useful to identify broad antivirals. Influenza A virus was used as a model for viral diversity and need for therapy against unpredictable viruses as recently underlined by the H1N1 pandemic. We proposed to identify a gene-expression signature associated with infection with different influenza A virus subtypes which could help to identify potential antiviral drugs with broad spectrum. Cellular gene expression response to infection with five different human and avian influenza viruses strains was analyzed and 300 genes were determined as differentially expressed between infected and non-infected samples. Strikingly, only a few genes were induced by infection and related to immune response. A more concise list was used to screen connectivity map, a database of drug-associated gene expression profiles, for molecules with inverse profiles than the signature of infection. We hypothesized that such compounds would induce an unfavorable cellular environment for influenza virus replication. Eight potential antivirals including ribavirin were identified, and six inhibited influenza viral growth in vitro. The new pandemic H1N1 virus, which was not used to define the gene expression signature of infection, was inhibited by five of the eight identified molecules, demonstrating that this strategy could help to identify broad spectrum antivirals. This is the first study showing that a gene expression based-screening can be used to identify antivirals. Such approaches could accelerate the drug discovery progress and could be extended to other pathogens. A549 (human lung epithelial cells) were infected with 5 different influenza A strains (A/New Caledonia/20/99 (H1N1), A/Moscow/10/99 (H3N2), A/Lyon/969/09 (H1N1 SOI-V), A/Turkey/582/2006 (H5N1), A/Finch/England/2051/94 (H5N2), and A/Chicken/Italy/2076/99 (H7N1)) or mock infected. Five independant replicates were done and hybridized on a different microarray. The overall design is thus composed of 5 mock samples, and 5x5 infected samples.

Project description:Classical antiviral therapies target viral proteins and are consequently subject to resistance. To counteract this limitation, alternative strategies have been developed that target cellular factors. We hypothesized that such an approach could also be useful to identify broad-spectrum antivirals. The influenza A virus was used as a model for its viral diversity and because of the need to develop therapies against unpredictable viruses as recently underlined by the H1N1 pandemic. We proposed to identify a gene-expression signature associated with infection by different influenza A virus subtypes which would allow the identification of potential antiviral drugs with a broad anti-influenza spectrum of activity. We analyzed the cellular gene expression response to infection with five different human and avian influenza A virus strains and identified 300 genes as differentially expressed between infected and non-infected samples. The most 20 dysregulated genes were used to screen the connectivity map, a database of drug-associated gene expression profiles. Candidate antivirals were then identified by their inverse correlation to the query signature. We hypothesized that such molecules would induce an unfavorable cellular environment for influenza virus replication. Eight potential antivirals including ribavirin were identified and their effects were tested in vitro on five influenza A strains. Six of the molecules inhibited influenza viral growth. The new pandemic H1N1 virus, which was not used to define the gene expression signature of infection, was inhibited by five out of the eight identified molecules, demonstrating that this strategy could contribute to identifying new broad anti-influenza agents acting on cellular gene expression. The identified infection signature genes, the expression of which are modified upon infection, could encode cellular proteins involved in the viral life cycle. This is the first study showing that gene expression-based screening can be used to identify antivirals. Such an approach could accelerate drug discovery and be extended to other pathogens.

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RNAi-based small molecule repositioning reveals clinically approved urea-based kinase inhibitors as broadly active antivirals.

Publications

RNAi-based small molecule repositioning reveals clinically approved urea-based kinase inhibitors as broadly active antivirals.

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