title: Quercetin as an Antiviral Agent Inhibits Influenza A Virus (IAV) Entry.
abstract: Influenza A viruses (IAVs) cause seasonal pandemics and epidemics with high morbidity and mortality, which calls for effective anti-IAV agents. The glycoprotein hemagglutinin of influenza virus plays a crucial role in the initial stage of virus infection, making it a potential target for anti-influenza therapeutics development. Here we found that quercetin inhibited influenza infection with a wide spectrum of strains, including A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (H1N1), A/FM-1/47/1 (H1N1), and A/Aichi/2/68 (H3N2) with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 7.756 ± 1.097, 6.225 ± 0.467, and 2.738 ± 1.931 μg/mL, respectively. Mechanism studies identified that quercetin showed interaction with the HA2 subunit. Moreover, quercetin could inhibit the entry of the H5N1 virus using the pseudovirus-based drug screening system. This study indicates that quercetin showing inhibitory activity in the early stage of influenza infection provides a future therapeutic option to develop effective, safe and affordable natural products for the treatment and prophylaxis of IAV infections.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. wj910103@126.com.
authors.forename: Wenjiao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. levine091@163.com.
authors.forename: Richan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. herelxl@163.com.
authors.forename: Xianglian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. jianhe@smu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, New York, NY 10065, USA. shibojiang@fudan.edu.cn.|Key Lab of Medical Molecular Virology of Ministries of Education and Health, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. shibojiang@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shibo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. liusw@smu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shuwen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. yj528@smu.edu.cn.|Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, New York, NY 10065, USA. yj528@smu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D053122:Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000821:virology*; D011794:Quercetin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D053586:Virus Internalization / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D011794:Quercetin
keywords: entry inhibitor; hemagglutinin; influenza A virus; quercetin