Chloroquine, an Endocytosis Blocking Agent, Inhibits Zika Virus Infection in Different Cell Models

Delvecchio, Rodrigo; Higa, Luiza M.; Pezzuto, Paula; Valadão, Ana Luiza; Garcez, Patrícia P.; Monteiro, Fábio L.; Loiola, Erick C.; Dias, André A.; Silva, Fábio J. M.; Aliota, Matthew T.; Caine, Elizabeth A.; Osorio, Jorge E.; Bellio, Maria; O’Connor, David H.; Rehen, Stevens; de Aguiar, Renato Santana; Savarino, Andrea; Campanati, Loraine; Tanuri, Amilcar

Microcephaly cases and neurological disorders have only been associated with infection with strains of ZIKV from the Asian lineage, detected in French Polynesia and in the Americas [6, 9, 29] . To determine the inhibition spectrum of chloroquine against ZIKV infection, Vero cells were infected with the Brazilian isolate of the Asian lineage (ZIKV BR). Chloroquine decreases the percentage of cells infected with the Brazilian isolate from 70% to 30% and 5% at 12.5 and 25 µM, respectively ( Brazilian strain at an MOI of 2 and exposed to chloroquine for 48 h. The supernatant was collected and viral RNA was relatively quantified over the untreated infected control (B) or infectivity was analyzed by immunofluorescence with 4G2 antibody (C). The dashed line represents fold reduction on virus production of 1. Data are represented as mean ± SD from two independent experiments. Statistical significance was assessed by Kruskal-Wallis test and multiple comparisons with infected and untreated control corrected by Dunn's test (* p < 0.05).