Antipicornavirus flavone Ro 09-0179

Antivirus agent, Ro 09-0410, binds to rhinovirus specifically and stabilizes the virus conformation

The antiviral mechanisms of Ro 09-0410 (4'-ethoxy-2'-hydroxy-4,6'-dimethoxychalcone), which inactivates rhinovirus exclusively, have been investigated. It was suggested that Ro 09-0410 bound to human rhinovirus type 2 (HRV-2) and made it inactive, since the reduced infectivity was completely restored to original levels by extraction of the agent with chloroform [H. Ishitsuka, Y. Ninomiya, C. Ohsawa, M. Fujiu, and Y. Suhara (1982) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 22, 617-621]. This was confirmed using radioactively labeled Ro 09-0410 and HRV-2. HRV-2 was inactive while bound to the agent, whereas a subline of HRV-2 resistant to the agent had no binding site for the agent. Ro 09-0410 appeared to bind to some specific site(s) on the virion of susceptible virus strains. Treatment of rhinovirus at pH 5 or 56 degrees caused a change of the virion size and greatly reduced its infectivity. Ro 09-0410 could no longer bind to HRV-2 after such treatment. On the other hand, when the virion bound with Ro 09-0410 was treated at pH 5 or 56 degrees, the Ro 09-0410 remained bound and the conformational alteration of the virion did not take place. Furthermore, Ro 09-0410 protected HRV-2 from the reduction of infectivity caused by mild acid or heat treatment, as revealed by infectivity measurements after extraction of the agent with chloroform. These results suggest that Ro 09-0410 binds to the HRV-2 virion and prevents viral replication in the cell.

Direct and specific inactivation of rhinovirus by chalcone Ro 09-0410

Studies of various analogs related to the antipicornavirus agent, 4',5-dihydroxy-3,3',7-trimethoxyflavone (Ro 09-0179), led to the identification of 4'-ethoxy-2'-hydroxy-4,6'-dimethoxychalcone (Ro 09-0410), a new and different type of antiviral agent. Ro 09-0410 had a high activity against rhinoviruses but no activity against other picornaviruses. Of 53 rhinovirus serotypes so far tested, 46 were susceptible to Ro 09-0410 in HeLa cell cultures. The concentration of Ro 09-0410 inhibiting 50% of the types of rhinovirus was about 0.03 micrograms/ml, whereas the 50% cytotoxic concentration was 30 microgram/ml. Ro 09-0410 inactivated rhinoviruses in direct dose-, time-, and temperature-dependent fashion. Since infectivity, reduced by exposure to the agent, completely regained the original level by extraction of the agent with chloroform, the inactivation may be associated with the binding of the agent to some specific site of the rhinovirus capsid.