Development of peptide-conjugated morpholino oligomers as pan-arenavirus inhibitors. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Members of the Arenaviridae family are a threat to public health and can cause meningitis and hemorrhagic fever, and yet treatment options remain limited by a lack of effective antivirals. In this study, we found that peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PPMO) complementary to viral genomic RNA were effective in reducing arenavirus replication in cell cultures and in vivo. PPMO complementary to the Junn virus genome were designed to interfere with viral RNA synthesis or translation or both. However, only PPMO designed to potentially interfere with translation were effective in reducing virus replication. PPMO complementary to sequences that are highly conserved across the arenaviruses and located at the 5' termini of both genomic segments were effective against Junn virus, Tacaribe virus, Pichinde virus, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV)-infected cell cultures and suppressed viral titers in the livers of LCMV-infected mice. These results suggest that arenavirus 5' genomic termini represent promising targets for pan-arenavirus antiviral therapeutic development.

published proceedings

  • Antimicrob Agents Chemother

altmetric score

  • 0.25

author list (cited authors)

  • Neuman, B. W., Bederka, L. H., Stein, D. A., Ting, J., Moulton, H. M., & Buchmeier, M. J.

citation count

  • 21

publication date

  • October 2011