Natural Products and Derivatives as Potential IZika virus/I Inhibitors: A Comprehensive Review

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 15; no. 5
• Main Authors: Pereira, Rosângela Santos, Santos, Françoise Camila Pereira, Campana, Priscilla Rodrigues Valadares, Costa, Vivian Vasconcelos, de Pádua, Rodrigo Maia, Souza, Daniele G, Teixeira, Mauro Ma, Braga, Fernão Castro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 01-05-2023
• Subjects: Biological products; By-products; Health aspects; Pharmacology, Experimental; Brazil
• ISSN: 1999-4915; 1999-4915
• DOI: 10.3390/v15051211

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an arbovirus whose infection in humans can lead to severe outcomes. This article reviews studies reporting the anti-ZIKV activity of natural products (NPs) and derivatives published from 1997 to 2022, which were carried out with NPs obtained from plants (82.4%) or semisynthetic/synthetic derivatives, fungi (3.1%), bacteria (7.6%), animals (1.2%) and marine organisms (1.9%) along with miscellaneous compounds (3.8%). Classes of NPs reported to present anti-ZIKV activity include polyphenols, triterpenes, alkaloids, and steroids, among others. The highest values of the selectivity index, the ratio between cytotoxicity and antiviral activity (SI = CC[sub.50] /EC[sub.50] ), were reported for epigallocatechin gallate (SI ≥ 25,000) and anisomycin (SI ≥ 11,900) obtained from Streptomyces bacteria, dolastane (SI = 1246) isolated from the marine seaweed Canistrocarpus cervicorni, and the flavonol myricetin (SI ≥ 862). NPs mostly act at the stages of viral adsorption and internalization in addition to presenting virucidal effect. The data demonstrate the potential of NPs for developing new anti-ZIKV agents and highlight the lack of studies addressing their molecular mechanisms of action and pre-clinical studies of efficacy and safety in animal models. To the best of our knowledge, none of the active compounds has been submitted to clinical studies.