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2025 (English)In: Viruses, E-ISSN 1999-4915, Vol. 17, no 3, article id 385Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The pandemic threat from newly emerging viral diseases constitutes a major unsolved issue for global health. Antiviral therapy can play an important role in treating and preventing the spread of unprecedented viral infections. A repository of compounds exhibiting broad-spectrum antiviral activity against a series of different viral families would be an invaluable asset to be prepared for future pandemic threats. Utilizing an open innovation crowd-sourcing paradigm, we were able to identify a compound class of diphenylureas that exhibits in vitro antiviral activity against multiple viruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), adenovirus, dengue virus, herpes, and influenza viruses. Compound 4 among the series exhibits strong activity against dengue virus, a growing global health problem with high medical need and no approved antiviral drug. The compounds are active against SARS-CoV-2 in a primary human stem cell-based mucociliary airway epithelium model and also active in vivo, as shown in a murine SARS-CoV-2 infection model. These results demonstrate the potential of the chemical class as antivirals on the one hand and the power of open innovation, crowd-sourcing, and repurposing on the other hand.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2025
Keywords
broadband antiviral compounds, pandemic preparedness, repurposing
National Category
Infectious Medicine
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-237331 (URN)10.3390/v17030385 (DOI)001453127300001 ()40143313 (PubMedID)2-s2.0-105001320329 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Familjen Erling-Perssons StiftelseSwedish Research Council, 2021-06389
2025-04-252025-04-252025-04-25Bibliographically approved