Screening of melatonin, α-tocopherol, folic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine and resveratrol for anti-dengue 2 virus activity

OBJECTIVE: Infections with the mosquito transmitted dengue virus (DENV) are a significant public health burden in many parts of the world. Despite the introduction of a commercial vaccine in some parts of the world, the majority of the populations at risk of infection remain unprotected against this disease, and there is currently no treatment for DENV infection. Natural compounds offer the prospect of cheap and sustainable therapeutics to reduce the disease burden during infection, and thus potentially alleviate the risk of more severe disease. This study evaluated the potential anti-DENV 2 activity of five natural compounds namely melatonin, α-tocopherol, folic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine and resveratrol in two different cell lines. RESULTS: Screening of the compounds showed that one compound (acetyl-l-carnitine) showed no effect on DENV infection, three compounds (melatonin, α-tocopherol and folic acid) slightly increased levels of infection, while the 5th compound, resveratrol, showed some limited anti-DENV activity, with resveratrol reducing virus output with an EC(50) of less than 25 μM. These results suggest that some commonly taken natural compounds may have beneficial effects on DENV infection, but that others may potentially add to the disease burden. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3417-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.