Extract from Aphloia theiformis, an edible indigenous plant from Reunion Island, impairs Zika virus attachment to the host cell surface

Abstract

The mosquito-borne Zika virus (ZIKV) belongs to the flavivirus genus of the Flaviviridae family. Contemporary epidemic strains of ZIKV are associated with congenital malformations in infants, including microcephaly, as well as Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. A risk of human-to-human transmission of ZIKV is also well documented. A worldwide research effort has been undertaken to identify safe and effective strategies to prevent or treat ZIKV infection. We show here that extract from Aphloia theiformis, an edible endemic plant from Indian Ocean islands, exerts a potent antiviral effect against ZIKV strains of African and Asian lineages, including epidemic strains. The antiviral effect of A. theiformis extract was extended to clinical isolates of dengue virus (DENV) of the four serotypes in human hepatocytes. A. theiformis inhibited virus entry in host cells by acting directly on viral particles, thus impairing their attachment to the cell surface. Electron microscopic observations revealed that organization of ZIKV particles was severely affected by A. theiformis. We propose a model of antiviral action for A. theiformis against flaviviruses that highlights the potential of medicinal plants as promising sources of naturally-derived antiviral compounds to prevent ZIKV and DENV infections.

Antiviral Natural Products for Arbovirus Infections

“…Medicinal plants have been used for millennia in the treatment and prevention against diseases and even until now, traditional medicine involving the use of herbal products are still widely practiced in Africa, Latin America, and China, and is gaining popularity in other countries including Australia and USA [80]. As the development of antivirals from synthetic molecules require a great amount of time and effort to design and validate from scratch, the discovery of antiviral compounds from natural products offers a more economical and simple alternative as they are easily accessible from nature [81][82][83]. Over the years, polyphenols-which are naturally occurring compounds found in fruits, vegetables, wine, and tea-have increasingly gained scientific interest as they have been reported to exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities such as antiviral, anti-bacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic effects [84][85][86][87][88].…”

Papaya Fruit Pulp and Resulting Lactic Fermented Pulp Exert Antiviral Activity against Zika Virus

“…The recombinant Zika virus expressing the GFP reporter gene (ZIKV GFP ) and the clinical isolate PF-25013-18 of ZIKV-PF13 have been previously described [39,40]. The ZIKV progeny production was performed by measuring the quantity of infectious viral particles released into the supernatant by plaque-forming assay on vero cells, as previously described [23]. EGCG was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich.…”

“…Given that several countries around the world are at risk of ZIKV outbreaks, it is still of high importance to develop antiviral strategies that include the use of nutraceuticals that can be used to prevent ZIKV infection [17][18][19][20][21]. Several polyphenol-rich extracts from Reunion Island have been reported to prevent ZIKV infection in vitro [22][23][24][25]. The three natural compounds epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), curcumin and delphinidin exert antiviral effects against ZIKV through a loss of viral infectivity in relation with an inability of virus particles to interact with host-cell receptors [26][27][28].…”

Mangiferin Rich Products from Aphloia theiformis (Vahl) Benn Leaves: Extraction, Fractionation, Phytochemical Characterization, and Antioxidant Properties

“…This plant has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of dysentery, malaria, fever [9], cataract, and diabetes [10]. Previous studies have also reported the antiviral [11], antidiabetic [12], antioxidant [9], antimicrobial [13], and photoprotective [8] activities of A. theiformis leaves. The active ingredient in this plant appears to be a xanthonoid class compound mangiferin.…”

“…Previous studies have already investigated A. theiformis for its cytotoxicity, antiviral, antidiabetic, antioxidant activities, and chemical profile [11,16,17]. However to the best of our knowledge, systematic studies on the extraction, fractionation, and evaluation of A. theiformis antioxidant activity and composition of secondary metabolites have not been performed previously.…”