Development of Fusion-Based Assay as a Drug Screening Platform for Nipah Virus Utilizing Baculovirus Expression Vector System.
Int J Mol Sci
; 25(16)2024 Aug 22.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39201788
ABSTRACT
Nipah virus (NiV) is known to be a highly pathogenic zoonotic virus, which is included in the World Health Organization Research & Development Blueprint list of priority diseases with up to 70% mortality rate. Due to its high pathogenicity and outbreak potency, a therapeutic countermeasure against NiV is urgently needed. As NiV needs to be handled within a Biological Safety Level (BSL) 4 facility, we had developed a safe drug screening platform utilizing a baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) based on a NiV-induced syncytium formation that could be handled within a BSL-1 facility. To reconstruct the NiV-induced syncytium formation in BEVS, two baculoviruses were generated to express recombinant proteins that are responsible for inducing the syncytium formation, including one baculovirus exhibiting co-expressed NiV fusion protein (NiV-F) and NiV attachment glycoprotein (NiV-G) and another exhibiting human EphrinB2 protein. Interestingly, syncytium formation was observed in infected insect cells when the medium was modified to have a lower pH level and supplemented with cholesterol. Fusion inhibitory properties of several compounds, such as phytochemicals and a polysulfonated naphthylamine compound, were evaluated using this platform. Among these compounds, suramin showed the highest fusion inhibitory activity against NiV-induced syncytium in the baculovirus expression system. Moreover, our in silico results provide a molecular-level glimpse of suramin's interaction with NiV-G's central hole and EphrinB2's G-H loop, which could be the possible reason for its fusion inhibitory activity.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Células Gigantes
/
Baculoviridae
/
Virus Nipah
/
Evaluación Preclínica de Medicamentos
Límite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Mol Sci
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Taiwán