A novel antiviral formulation inhibits a range of enveloped viruses.

Nicola F Fletcher; Luke W Meredith; Emma L Tidswell; Steven R Bryden; Daniel Gonçalves-Carneiro; Yasmin Chaudhry; Claire Shannon-Lowe; Michael A Folan; Daniella A Lefteri; Marieke Pingen; Dalan Bailey; Clive S McKimmie; Alan W Baird

ViroSAL may have applications in current and future viral outbreaks, including the current pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. Ebola or the spike protein of SARS-CoV-1 was treated in a 1:1 dilution with concentrations of ViroSAL ranging from 4% to 0.125% (final concentrations ranged from 2% to 0.0625%) for 2 minutes. Buffer was then added to restore the pH to 7. To control for the effect of pH on viral infectivity, virus was treated with a pH5.5 buffer, equivalent to that of ViroSAL, for 2 minutes and then the pH of the virus was restored to 7. Pseudoviruses were used to infect 293T human embryonic kidney cells. 10ng/ml IFN-y was included as a positive antiviral control. Data are presented as mean infectivity ± SD relative to the untreated virus control. (B) Pseudovirus bearing the envelope glycoproteins of VSV were treated for 2, 1 or 0.5 minutes with ViroSAL, the pH restored to 7, and used to infect 293T cells. Control virus was treated with a pH5.5 buffer for 2 minutes and the pH restored to 7. Statistical differences are presented relative to the pH5.5 control (n = 3 independent experiments). ****P < 0.0001, ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, ns: not significant. were treated with a range of dilutions of VIROSAL for 2 minutes and the viral load was quantified by qRT-PCR. (C) Zika virus (PE243) was treated with VIROSAL as above the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.