title: Susceptibility of varicella-zoster virus to thymidine analogues.
abstract: Ten strains of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) were tested for susceptibility to 17 nucleoside analogues by a plaque reduction assay using human embryonic lung fibroblast cells. The compounds employed were 5-substituted arabinosyluracils and 2'-deoxyuridines, 2'-fluoro-arabinosylpyrimidines (F-araPyr) and acyclovir. In terms of the 50% plaque reduction dose (PD50), 4- to 40-fold difference were found between the 10 strains of VZV in susceptibilities to each compound. VZV was highly susceptible to 5-halogenovinyl-arabinosyluracils (XV-araUs); the PD50 values of these compounds were less than 0.001 micrograms/ml. VZV was much more susceptible than herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 to XV-araUs, but less susceptible than either HSV type 1 or type 2 to 5-ethyl-2'-deoxyuridine, 5-ethyl-arabinosyluracil and acyclovir.
mesh_terms: D000212:Acyclovir / Q000494:pharmacology; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001086:Arabinofuranosyluracil / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D003857:Deoxyuridine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D005347:Fibroblasts; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000187:drug effects; D013936:Thymidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D003561:Cytarabine; D001086:Arabinofuranosyluracil; C026023:fiacitabine; C050535:1-(2-deoxy-(2-fluoroarabinofuranosyl))-5-vinyluracil; C034935:clevudine; D013936:Thymidine; D003857:Deoxyuridine; D000212:Acyclovir