Scientists Discover New Compound to Stop Virus Replication

Novel compound, which can stop virus replication has been identified by scientists.

Poxviruses, such as smallpox, vaccinia virus and the Monkeypox virus, invade host cells and replicate, causing disease. Recent data shows that the number of people being infected by Monkeypox is increasing globally.

Utilizing state of the art screening techniques, vaccinia and a library of chemicals from CMLD, a team of scientists from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), including lead author Ken Dower and his colleagues, looked for compounds that could stop vaccinia from replicating inside human cells. They identified several.

In studying how one of these compounds work, they discovered that the virus can enter the cell in its presence, but once the virus was inside, the compound inactivates an essential piece of virus machinery.

USAMRIID researchers then tested the efficacy of the chemical compound on the Monkeypox virus. Their experiments demonstrated similar results, showing that this chemical compound has the ability to inhibit different varieties of poxviruses.

"The compound we identified forces the catastrophic failure of the normal virus amplification cycle and illustrates a new drug-accessible restriction point for poxviruses in general," said John Connor, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology at BUSM.

"This can help us in developing new compounds that fight poxviruses infection," Connor added.

The study has been published online in the Journal of Virology.

Source: ANI