title: Apigenin inhibits African swine fever virus infection in vitro.
abstract: African swine fever virus (ASFV) is one of the most devastating diseases of domestic pigs for which no effective vaccines are available. Flavonoids, natural products isolated from plants, have been reported to have significant in vitro and in vivo antiviral activity against different viruses. Here, we tested the antiviral effect of five flavonoids on the replication of ASFV in Vero cells. Our results showed a potent, dose-dependent anti-ASFV effect of apigenin in vitro. Time-of-addition experiments revealed that apigenin was highly effective at the early stages of infection. Apigenin reduced the ASFV yield by more than 99.99 % when it was added at 1 hpi. The antiviral activity of apigenin was further investigated by evaluation of ASFV protein synthesis and viral factories. This flavonoid inhibited ASFV-specific protein synthesis and viral factory formation. ASFV-infected cells continuously treated with apigenin did not display a cytopathic effect. Further studies addressing the use of apigenin in vivo are needed.
authors.affiliation: Group of Antiviral Defense Mechanisms, Institute of Molecular Biology of NAS RA, 0014, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Astghik
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hakobyan
authors.affiliation: Group of Antiviral Defense Mechanisms, Institute of Molecular Biology of NAS RA, 0014, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arabyan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell Biology and Virology, Institute of Molecular Biology of NAS RA, 0014, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Aida
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avetisyan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell Biology and Virology, Institute of Molecular Biology of NAS RA, 0014, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Liana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abroyan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell Biology and Virology, Institute of Molecular Biology of NAS RA, 0014, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hakobyan
authors.affiliation: Group of Antiviral Defense Mechanisms, Institute of Molecular Biology of NAS RA, 0014, Yerevan, Armenia. h_zakaryan@mb.sci.am.|Yerevan State Medical University after M. Heratsi, 0025, Yerevan, Armenia. h_zakaryan@mb.sci.am.
authors.forename: Hovakim
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zakaryan
mesh_terms: D000358:African Swine Fever Virus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D047310:Apigenin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D014709:Vero Cells; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D047310:Apigenin