1. Academic Validation
  2. Identification of a novel multiple kinase inhibitor with potent antiviral activity against influenza virus by reducing viral polymerase activity

Identification of a novel multiple kinase inhibitor with potent antiviral activity against influenza virus by reducing viral polymerase activity

  • Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2014 Jul 18;450(1):49-54. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2014.05.058.
Yutaka Sasaki 1 Michinori Kakisaka 1 Nopporn Chutiwitoonchai 1 Shigeru Tajima 2 Hirokazu Hikono 3 Takehiko Saito 3 Yoko Aida 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Viral Infectious Diseases Unit, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
  • 2 Department of Virology I, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1-23-1 Toyama, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan.
  • 3 Influenza and Prion Disease Research Center, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 3-1-5 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan.
  • 4 Viral Infectious Diseases Unit, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. Electronic address: aida@riken.jp.
Abstract

Neuraminidase inhibitors are the only currently available influenza treatment, although resistant viruses to these drugs have already been reported. Thus, new Antiviral drugs with novel mechanisms of action are urgently required. In this study, we identified a novel Antiviral compound, WV970, through cell-based screening of a 50,000 compound library and subsequent lead optimization. This compound exhibited potent Antiviral activity with nanomolar IC50 values against both influenza A and B viruses but not non-influenza RNA viruses. Time-of-addition and indirect immunofluorescence assays indicated that WV970 acted at an early stage of the influenza life cycle, but likely after nuclear entry of viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP). Further analyses of viral RNA expression and viral polymerase activity indicated that WV970 inhibited vRNP-mediated viral genome replication and transcription. Finally, structure-based virtual screening and comprehensive human kinome screening were used to demonstrate that WV970 acts as a multiple kinase inhibitor, many of which are associated with Influenza Virus replication. Collectively, these results strongly suggest that WV970 is a promising anti-influenza drug candidate and that several kinases associated with viral replication are promising drug targets.

Keywords

Anti-influenza viral drug; Compound library screening; KINOMEscan; Kinase inhibitor; Target database search; vRNP activity.

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