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

Recent studies showed that neural stem cells are highly permissive for ZIKV infection and one of the mechanisms proposed for the cause of microcephaly would be the depletion of the stem cell pool induced by ZIKV [10, 11, 55] . Our data showed that chloroquine inhibits the infection of human neural stem cells ( Figure 5 ). Using the mouse neurospheres model to study neural stem cell differentiation into neurons, another process that might be disturbed in microcephaly, we observed that chloroquine inhibited the infection of neuronal progenitors and partially protected the ability of these cells to extend neurites ( Figure 6 ). The protective effect of chloroquine on stem cells and committed progenitors is potentially a groundbreaking feature of this compound, as it would be prescribed to women at childbearing age that are traveling to affected countries and women planning pregnancy in endemic areas. This would decrease the chances of infection and thus fetal damage, especially to the developing brain.