García Zarandieta, MartaSáez Álvarez, YaniraQuesada, ErnestoMartínez Jiménez, María I.Newnes, Crsitina V.Fernández Caballero, VíctorBlázquez, Ana BelénEscribano Romero, EstelaSáiz, Juan CarlosDel Águila, CarmenMartín Acebes, Miguel A.Pérez Pérez, María JesúsAgudo Torres, RubénUniversidad San Pablo-CEU. Facultad de FarmaciaGrupo: Parasitología e Inmunología molecular con aplicación biotecnológica, diagnóstica y terapéutica (PARINM)2024-03-202024-03-202023-02-24Marta García-Zarandieta, Ernesto Quesada, María I. Martínez-Jiménez, Cristina V. Newnes, Victor Fernández-Cabello, Yanira Sáez-Álvarez, Ana-Belén Blázquez, Estela Escribano-Romero, Juan-Carlos Saiz, Carmen Del Aguila, Miguel A. Martín-Acebes, María-Jesús Pérez-Pérez, Rubén Agudo, Identification of West Nile virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase non-nucleoside inhibitors by real-time high throughput fluorescence screening, Antiviral Research, Volume 212, 2023, 105568, ISSN 0166-3542, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2023.105568.1872-9096http://hdl.handle.net/10637/15646West Nile virus (WNV) is a re-emergent mosquito-borne RNA virus that causes major outbreaks of encephalitis around the world. However, there is no therapeutic treatment to struggle against WNV, and the current treatment relies on alleviating symptoms. Therefore, due to the threat virus poses to animal and human health, there is an urgent need to come up with fast strategies to identify and assess effective antiviral compounds. A relevant target when developing drugs against RNA viruses is the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), responsible for the replication of the viral genome within a host cell. RdRps are key therapeutic targets based on their specificity for RNA and their essential role in the propagation of the infection. We have developed a fluorescence-based method to measure WNV RdRp activity in a fast and reliable real-time way. Interestingly, rilpivirine has shown in our assay inhibition of the WNV RdRp activity with an IC50 value of 3.3 μM and its antiviral activity was confirmed in cell cultures. Furthermore, this method has been extended to build up a high-throughput screening platform to identify WNV polymerase inhibitors. By screening a small chemical library, novel RdRp inhibitors 1-4 have been identified. When their antiviral activity was tested against WNV in cell culture, 4 exhibited an EC50 value of 2.5 μM and a selective index of 12.3. Thus, rilpivirine shows up as an interesting candidate for repurposing against flavivirus. Moreover, the here reported method allows the rapid identification of new WNV RdRp inhibitors.application/pdfenopen accessAntiviralNS5Nonnucleoside analoguesRNA-Dependent RNA polymeraseRilpivirineWest nile virusArtículo10.1016/j.antiviral.2023.105568https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.es