Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Testing antiviral drugs alone and combined against feline coronavirus
By Cook, Sarah E et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2022·School of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Investigation of monotherapy and combined anticoronaviral therapies against feline coronavirus serotype II in vitro.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study tested various antiviral medications to find effective treatments for cats with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), a serious disease caused by a virus with no approved cure. Researchers identified 26 compounds that showed promise against the virus, with the most effective being GC376, GS-441524, EIDD2081, and EIDD2931. While some combinations of these drugs showed limited benefits, single-drug treatments were found to be the most effective at stopping the virus from replicating. This research offers hope for better management of FIP in cats.
People also search for: cat FIP treatment · antiviral drugs for feline coronavirus · GC376 for cats
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), caused by genetic mutants of feline enteric coronavirus known as FIPV, is a highly fatal disease of cats with no currently available vaccine or US Food and Drug Administration-approved cure. Dissemination of FIPV in affected cats results in a range of clinical signs, including cavitary effusions, anorexia, fever and lesions of pyogranulomatous vasculitis and perivasculitis, with or without central nervous system or ocular involvement. The objectives of this study were to screen an array of antiviral compounds for anti-FIPV (serotype II) activity, determine cytotoxicity safety profiles of identified compounds with anti-FIPV activity and strategically combine identified monotherapies to assess compound synergy against FIPV in vitro. Based upon clinically successful combination treatment strategies for human patients with HIV and hepatitis C virus infections, we hypothesized that a combined anticoronaviral therapy approach featuring concurrent multiple mechanisms of drug action would result in an additive or synergistic antiviral effect. METHODS: This study screened 90 putative antiviral compounds for efficacy and cytotoxicity using a multimodal in vitro strategy, including plaque bioassays, real-time RT-PCR viral inhibition and cytotoxicity assays. RESULTS: Through this process, we identified 26 compounds with effective antiviral activity against FIPV, representing a variety of drug classes and mechanisms of antiviral action. The most effective compounds include GC376, GS-441524, EIDD2081 and EIDD2931. We documented antiviral efficacy for combinations of antiviral agents, with a few examined drug combinations demonstrating evidence of limited synergistic antiviral activity. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Although evidence of compound synergy was identified for several combinations of antiviral agents, monotherapies were ultimately determined to be the most effective in the inhibition of viral transcription.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34676775/