ABSTRACT
Objective To study the antiviral effect and mechanism of camptothecin against HSV-1 in vitro. Methods Adding different concentration of camptothecin to the Vero cells infected by HSV-1, the measure of cytopathologic effects (CPE) was taken to evaluate the result of antiviral effect and mechanism of camptothecin. The median toxic concentration (TC50), median inhibitory concentration (IC50), and therapeutic index (TI) of camptothecin were calculated, and the affection of camptothecin on HSV-1 mRNA expression was examined through the method of RT-qPCR. Results TC50 of camptothecin was 2 153.44 nmol/L, IC50 was 43.01 nmol/L, and TI was 50.07. The results of RT-qPCR showed that camptothecin can significantly inhibit the gene transcription of HSV-1, UL12, UL42, UL54, and TK, and its inhibitory effect was in dose-dependence relationship with the concentration of camptothecin. Conclusion Camptothecin has an obvious antiviral effect on HSV-1 and can inhibit the transcription of HSV-1 genes such as UL12, UL42, UL54, and TK.