BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Therapeutics: Spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase 1 (SAT1; SSAT); ornithine decarboxylase (ODC)

July 28, 2016 7:00 AM UTC

Studies in mammalian cell culture, fruit flies and zebrafish suggest promoting SAT1 expression or inhibiting ODC could help treat Chikungunya, Sindbis and Zika viral infections. In a hamster kidney cell line infected with Chikungunya or Zika virus, overexpression of SAT1 or the ODC inhibitor eflornithine decreased viral titers compared with overexpression of inactive SAT1 or no treatment. In a monkey cell line infected with Zika virus, a tool compound that promotes SAT1 expression decreased viral titers compared with no treatment. In fruit fly and zebrafish models of Sindbis viral infection, eflornithine decreased whole-animal viral titers. Next steps could include promoting SAT1 expression or inhibiting ODC in models of other viral infections.

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