In Vitro Evaluation of Acetaminophen as a Repurposed Anti-Influenza Virus Agent

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Drug Discovery
• Computational Chemistry

Background:

• Influenza poses a significant global health risk due to seasonal outbreaks and pandemic potential.
• Current vaccines and antivirals face challenges from viral mutation and drug resistance.
• Drug repurposing offers a strategy to identify new influenza therapeutics from existing medications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential of FDA-approved drugs for repurposing against influenza.
• To identify novel antiviral compounds through molecular docking and in vitro screening.

Main Methods:

• Selected 1120 FDA-approved antiviral drugs and inhibitors from public databases.
• Performed molecular docking of selected compounds against key influenza proteins (NP, NA, HA1, PB2).
• Conducted in vitro antiviral assays for top-scoring compounds.

Main Results:

• Molecular docking identified acetaminophen, asparagine, and acyclovir as top candidates.
• Acetaminophen exhibited the strongest binding interaction at the PB2 cap-binding site.
• In vitro studies confirmed promising antiviral activity for acetaminophen, but not for asparagine or acyclovir.

Conclusions:

• Acetaminophen demonstrates potential as an influenza therapeutic through drug repurposing.
• The compound may interfere with critical stages of the influenza virus life cycle.
• Further in vivo and mechanistic studies are required to validate acetaminophen's efficacy for influenza treatment.