High-Content Screening to Identify Inhibitors of Dengue Virus Replication

Abstract

Dengue Virus (DENV) causes dengue fever, a pandemic-potential disease with currently no FDA-approved antivirals. Additionally, the available vaccine for DENV can increase the risk of severe dengue fever for those who have never had a DENV infection due to antibody-dependent enhancements. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify dengue virus antivirals. Antivirals that target NS4B, the replication compartment forming protein of DENV and the flavivirus family, are a promising new drug class that minimize cytotoxic effects to host cells. Drug-repurposing and high-content screening were leveraged to efficiently identify antivirals likely to inhibit NS4B. Using high-content screening, we quantified the morphological patterns of NS4B and envelope (E) protein expression versus time and developed a viral pseudotime model that was able to predict the infection progression to enable drug screening. We then developed a single cell infection classifier for antiviral efficacy and performed high-throughput drug screening of 960 compounds. We identified four concentration-dependent inhibitors of DENV with nanomolar potencies including: Nexium, Pralatrexate, GW4064, and LY411575. LY411575, a gamma secretase inhibitor, exhibited an IC50 of 72nM and reduced percent infection to levels indistinguishable from the mock infection control.