Suppression of Adenovirus Replication by Cardiotonic Steroids
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The dependence of adenovirus on the host pre-RNA splicing machinery for expression of its complete genome potentially makes it vulnerable to modulators of RNA splicing, such as digoxin and digitoxin. Both drugs reduced the yields of four human adenoviruses (HAdV-A31, -B35, and -C5 and a species D conjunctivitis isolate) by at least 2 to 3 logs by affecting one or more steps needed for genome replication. Immediate early E1A protein levels are unaffected by the drugs, but synthesis of the delayed protein E4orf6 and the major late capsid protein hexon is compromised. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses revealed that both drugs altered E1A RNA splicing (favoring the production of 13S over 12S RNA) early in infection and partially blocked the transition from 12S and 13S to 9S RNA at late stages of virus replication. Expression of multiple late viral protein mRNAs was lost in the presence of either drug, consistent with the observed block in viral DNA replication. The antiviral effect was dependent on the continued presence of the drug and was rapidly reversible. RIDK34, a derivative of convallotoxin, although having more potent antiviral activity, did not show an improved selectivity index. All three drugs reduced metabolic activity to some degree without evidence of cell death. By blocking adenovirus replication at one or more steps beyond the onset of E1A expression and prior to genome replication, digoxin and digitoxin show potential as antiviral agents for treatment of serious adenovirus infections. Furthermore, understanding the mechanism(s) by which digoxin and digitoxin inhibit adenovirus replication will guide the development of novel antiviral therapies. IMPORTANCE: Despite human adenoviruses being a common and, in some instances, life-threating pathogen in humans, there are few well-tolerated therapies. In this report, we demonstrate that two cardiotonic steroids already in use in humans, digoxin and digitoxin, are potent inhibitors of multiple adenovirus species. A synthetic derivative of the cardiotonic steroid convallotoxin was even more potent than digoxin and digitoxin when tested with HAdV-C5. These drugs alter the cascade of adenovirus gene expression, acting after initiation of early gene expression to block viral DNA replication and synthesis of viral structural proteins. These findings validate a novel approach to treating adenovirus infections through the modulation of host cell processes.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".