Grupo Inmunovirología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Calle 70 No. 52-21, Medellín, Colombia.
Chem Biodivers. 2023 Aug;20(8):e202300192. doi: 10.1002/cbdv.202300192. Epub 2023 Aug 7.
Infection by viruses Chikungunya (CHIKV) and Zika (ZIKV) continue to be serious problems in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Here, we evaluated the antiviral and virucidal activity of caffeine against CHIKV and ZIKV in Vero, A549, and Huh-7 cell lines. Results showed that caffeine displays antiviral properties against both viruses. By pre-and post-infection treatment, caffeine significantly inhibited CHIKV and ZIKV replication in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, caffeine showed a virucidal effect against ZIKV. Molecular docking suggests the possible binding of caffeine with envelope protein and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of CHIKV and ZIKV. This is the first study that showed an antiviral effect of caffeine against CHIKV and ZIKV. Although further studies are needed to better understand the mechanism of caffeine-mediated repression of viral replication, caffeine appears to be a promising compound that could be used for in vivo studies, perhaps in synergy with other compounds present in daily beverages.
病毒基孔肯雅（CHIKV）和寨卡（ZIKV）的感染仍然是世界热带和亚热带地区的严重问题。在这里，我们评估了咖啡因对 Vero、A549 和 Huh-7 细胞系中的 CHIKV 和 ZIKV 的抗病毒和杀病毒活性。结果表明，咖啡因对这两种病毒均具有抗病毒特性。通过预感染和感染后处理，咖啡因以剂量依赖性方式显著抑制 CHIKV 和 ZIKV 的复制。此外，咖啡因对 ZIKV 表现出杀病毒作用。分子对接表明咖啡因可能与 CHIKV 和 ZIKV 的包膜蛋白和 RNA 依赖性 RNA 聚合酶结合。这是第一项表明咖啡因对 CHIKV 和 ZIKV 具有抗病毒作用的研究。尽管需要进一步研究以更好地了解咖啡因介导的抑制病毒复制的机制，但咖啡因似乎是一种很有前途的化合物，可用于体内研究，也许与日常饮料中存在的其他化合物协同作用。
