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Updated: Apr 23, 2026

High-throughput Antiviral Assays to Screen for Inhibitors of Zika Virus Replication
Published on: October 30, 2021
Structure-activity relationship study of arbidol derivatives as inhibitors of chikungunya virus replication
Antonia Di Mola1, Antonella Peduto2, Annalisa La Gatta1
1Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Naples, Via Costantinopoli, 16, 80138 Naples, Italy.
Abstract:
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a mosquito-borne arthrogenic Alphavirus, causes an acute febrile illness in humans, that is, accompanied by severe joint pains. In many cases, the infection leads to persistent arthralgia, which may last for weeks to several years. The re-emergence of this infection in the early 2000s was exemplified by numerous outbreaks in the eastern hemisphere. Since then, the virus is rapidly spreading. Currently, no drugs have been approved or are in development for the treatment of CHIKV, which makes this viral infection particularly interesting for academic medicinal chemistry efforts. Several molecules have already been identified that inhibit CHIKV replication in phenotypic virus-cell-based assays. One of these is arbidol, a molecule that already has been licensed for the treatment of influenza A and B virus infections. For structural optimization, a dedicated libraries of 43 indole-based derivatives were evaluated leading to more potent analogues (IIIe and IIIf) with anti-chikungunya virus (CHIKV) activities higher than those of the other derivatives, including the lead compound, and with a selective index of inhibition 13.2 and 14.6, respectively, higher than that of ARB (4.6).
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