Interactions between cyclodextrins and cellular components: Towards greener medical applications?

Leclercq, Loïc

Cholesterol levels in the plasma membrane are extremely important in many parts of the viral infection process such as the entry and release of virions from the host cell as well as for the transport of various viral proteins. CDs have a clear antiviral activity against influenza virus [140] , human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) [141] , murine corona virus [142] , poliovirus [143] , human T cell leukemia virus (HTLV-1) [144] , Newcastle virus [145, 146] , varicella-zoster [147] , duck and human hepatitis B virus [148, 149] , bluetongue virus [150] , etc. In these cases, the ability of CDs to decrease membrane cholesterol was proposed as antiviral mechanism. Nevertheless, the biological effects of the CDs can be classified according to their role: i) to impede the viral entry in the host cell, ii) to decrease the relative infectivity of the virions, iii) to decrease the observed viral titer, and iv) to disrupt the surface transport of influenza virus hemagglutinin. Few typical examples of the CD effect on the pathogenicity of several viruses are reported.