Antiviral activity of arbidol hydrochloride against herpes simplex virus I in vitro and in vivo

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) causes significant human diseases from skin lesions to encephalitis, especially in neonates and immunocompromised hosts. The discovery of novel anti-HSV-1 drugs with low toxicity is in demand for public health. Arbidol Hydrochloride (ARB) is an indole-derivative molecule with broad-spectrum antiviral activity. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral effects of ARB against HSV-1 infection using in vitro and in vivo models. The results showed that ARB presents significant inhibitory effect on HSV-1 plaque formation and generation of progeny virus with EC50 value of 5.39 µg/mL (10.49µM) and 2.26 µg/mL (4.40µM), respectively. Moreover, time-of-addition and time-of-removal assays further suggested that ARB has viral inhibitory effects if added up to 12 h p.i., which could be further corroborated by determining the expression of viral immediate early (ICP4, ICP22, ICP27), early (ICP8, UL42), and late genes (gB, gD, gH, VP1/2, VP16) by qRT-PCR and the expression of viral protein ICP4 and ICP8 at 6 and 12 h p.i.. The results of the in vivo study showed that ARB could reduce the guinea pigs skin lesion caused by HSV-1 infection. Conclusively, this report offers new perspectives in the search for therapeutic measures in the treatment of HSV-1 infection.