Synergistic antiviral effect of xanthates and ionic detergents

Xanthate compounds have been shown to exhibit antiviral activity against various DNA and RNA viruses under acidic pH conditions. It is now possible to utilize the unique broad range antiviral spectrum of these compounds under physiological pH conditions (pH 7.4) by simultaneous administration of certain ionic detergents. When used in conjunction with tricyclodecan-9-yl-xanthate (D609), sodium deoxycholate, sodium dodecylsulfate and certain fatty acids, which have no antiviral activity of their own, inhibit the replication of various DNA and RNA viruses (such as herpes simplex, vesicular stomatitis and Coxsackie B 4) in vitro at pH 7.4. Among saturated fatty acids of various chain lengths there was a marked size restriction in that the efficiency of undecanoic acid (11 C atoms) was three orders of magnitude greater than that of shorter (6 C atoms) or longer (18 C atoms) monocarbonic acids. Dose-response kinetics revealed a synergistic interaction between the xanthate and the monocarbonic acid. A dose that inhibited the replication of herpesvirus by a factor of 1000 still permitted mitotic activity in uninfected growing control cultures.