High-Throughput Screening Identifies Inhibitors for Parvovirus B19 Infection of Human Erythroid Progenitors

Parvovirus B19 (B19V) infection can cause hematological disorders and fetal hydrops during pregnancy. Currently, no antivirals or vaccines are available for the treatment or prevention of B19V infection. To identify novel small-molecule antivirals against B19V replication, we developed a high-throughput screening (HTS) assay, which is based on an in vitro nicking assay using recombinant N-terminal amino acids 1 to 176 of the viral large nonstructural protein (NS1N) and a fluorescently labeled DNA probe (OriQ) that spans the nicking site of the viral DNA replication origin. We collectively screened 17,040 compounds and identified 2,178 (12.78%) hits that possess >10% inhibition of the NS1 nicking activity, among which 84 hits were confirmed to inhibit nicking in a dose-dependent manner. Using ex vivo-expanded primary human erythroid progenitor cells (EPCs) infected by B19V, we validated 24 compounds that demonstrated >50% in vivo inhibition of B19V infection at 10 μM, which can be categorized into 7 structure scaffolds. Based on the therapeutic index (half-maximal cytotoxic concentration [CC₅₀]/half-maximal effective concentration [EC₅₀] ratio) in EPCs, the top 4 compounds were chosen to examine their inhibitions of B19V infection in EPCs at two times of the 90% maximal effective concentration (EC₉₀). A purine derivative (P7) demonstrated an antiviral effect (EC₅₀ = 1.46 μM) without prominent cytotoxicity (CC₅₀ = 71.8 μM) in EPCs and exhibited 92% inhibition of B19V infection in EPCs at 3.32 μM, which can be used as the lead compound in future studies for the treatment of B19V infection-caused hematological disorders. IMPORTANCE B19V encodes a large nonstructural protein, NS1. Its N-terminal domain (NS1N) consisting of amino acids 1 to 176 binds to viral DNA and serves as an endonuclease to nick the viral DNA replication origins, which is a pivotal step in rolling-hairpin-dependent B19V DNA replication. For high-throughput screening (HTS) of anti-B19V antivirals, we miniaturized a fluorescence-based in vitro nicking assay, which employs a fluorophore-labeled probe spanning the terminal resolution site (trs) and the NS1N protein, into a 384-well-plate format. The HTS assay showed high reliability and capability in screening 17,040 compounds. Based on the therapeutic index (half-maximal cytotoxic concentration [CC₅₀]/half-maximal effective concentration [EC₅₀] ratio) in EPCs, a purine derivative demonstrated an antiviral effect of 92% inhibition of B19V infection in EPCs at 3.32 μM (two times the EC₉₀). Our study demonstrated a robust HTS assay for screening antivirals against B19V infection.