Discordant Activity of Kaempferol Towards Dengue Virus and Japanese Encephalitis Virus

Abstract

Kaempferol, a plant-derived flavonoid, has been reported to have activity against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in BHK-21 cells. To determine the broader utility of this compound, we initially evaluated the activity of kaempferol against JEV and dengue virus (DENV) in HEK293T/17 cells. Results showed no significant antiviral activity against either virus. We subsequently investigated the activity of kaempferol against both JEV and DENV in BHK-21 cells. Results showed a significant inhibition of JEV infection but, surprisingly, a significant enhancement of DENV infection. The effect of kaempferol on both host protein expression and transcription was investigated and both transcriptional and translational inhibitory effects were observed, although a more marked effect was observed on host cell protein expression. Markedly, while GRP78 was increased in DENV infected cells treated with kaempferol, it was not increased in JEV infected cells treated with kaempferol. These results show that cellular alteration induced by one compound can have opposite effects on viruses from the same family, suggesting the presence of distinct replication strategies for these two viruses.

In Silico Screening of Natural Products Isolated from Mexican Herbal Medicines against COVID-19

“…In this context, kaempferol has been tested against dengue virus and the Japanese encephalitis virus. Interestingly such compound demonstrates to inhibit both viral infections [ 34 ], significantly. Moreover, caffeoyl tartaric acids derivatives (monocaffeoyl tartaric acid), coumarins (aesculin and cichoriin) among other compounds found in plants of the genus Taraxacum, including Taraxacum officinale , have been described to exhibit promising antibacterial activity against S. aureus , B. cereus and E. coli [ 35 ].…”

Medicinal Plants Against Coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) in Morocco Via Computational Virtual Screening Approach

“…Kaempferol, a natural flavonoid, it has several biological activities including antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anticancer and antiviral activities. The antiviral activity of kaempferol has been reported against human cytomegalovirus (Mitrocotsa, Mitaku, Axarlis, Harvalaand Malamas, 2000), Human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) (Behbahani, Sayedipour, Pourazarand Shanehsazzadeh, 2014), Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV) (Care et al, 2020) and against coronaviruses (Schwarz et al, 2014).…”

Berberine Inhibits Dengue Virus through Dual Mechanisms

“…Flow cytometry was undertaken essentially as previously described [ 68 ]. Briefly, infected and mock infected cells (treated with BBR as appropriate) were collected at 24 h post-infection (h.p.i) by centrifugation and were subsequently blocked with 10% normal goat serum (Gibco BRL, Gaithersburg, MD, USA) on ice before fixing with 4% paraformaldehyde (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) in PBS-immunoflouresence assay (IFA) (150 mM NaCl, 50 mM NaH 2 PO 4 , 50 mM Na 2 HPO 4 , pH to 7.4) buffer for 20 min in the dark.…”

“…PCR cycle conditions used were 95 °C for 3 min, followed by 40 cycles of 95 °C for 10 s, 60 °C for 30 s and 72 °C for 20 s. Viral genome copy numbers were calculated against a standard curve generated from serial dilutions from 10 0 to 10 10 and read as copies/mL. PCR products of the standard were prepared using the FavorPrep GEL/PCR Purification Mini Kit [ 68 ] (Favogen BioTech, Ping-Tung, Taiwan) and subsequently diluted to various copy numbers following calculation using the Thermo Scientific Web.…”