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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 2005, p. 4980-4988, Vol. 49, No. 12
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.12.4980-4988.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

High-Throughput Assays Using a Luciferase-Expressing Replicon, Virus-Like Particles, and Full-Length Virus for West Nile Virus Drug Discovery

Francesc Puig-Basagoiti,1 Tia S. Deas,2 Ping Ren,1 Mark Tilgner,1 David M. Ferguson,3 and Pei-Yong Shi1,2*

Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York 12208,1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York 12201,2 Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Center for Drug Design, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 554553

Received 28 May 2005/ Returned for modification 26 August 2005/ Accepted 13 September 2005

Many flaviviruses cause significant human disease worldwide. The development of flavivirus chemotherapy requires reliable high-throughput screening (HTS) assays. Although genetic systems have been developed for many flaviviruses, their usage in antiviral HTS assays has not been well explored. Here we compare three cell-based HTS assays for West Nile virus (WNV) drug discovery: (i) an assay that uses a cell line harboring a persistently replicating subgenomic replicon (containing a deletion of viral structural genes), (ii) an assay that uses packaged virus-like particles containing replicon RNA, and (iii) an assay that uses a full-length reporting virus. A Renilla luciferase gene was engineered into the replicon or into the full-length viral genome to monitor viral replication. Potential inhibitors could be identified through suppression of luciferase signals upon compound incubation. The antiviral assays were optimized in a 96-well format, validated with known WNV inhibitors, and proved useful in identifying a new inhibitor(s) through HTS of a compound library. In addition, because each assay encompasses multiple but discrete steps of the viral life cycle, the three systems could potentially be used to discriminate the mode of action of any inhibitor among viral entry (detected by assays ii and iii but not by assay i), replication (including viral translation and RNA synthesis; detected by assays i to iii), and virion assembly (detected by assay iii but not by assays i and ii). The approaches described in this study should be applicable to the development of cell-based assays for other flaviviruses.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, 120 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, NY 12208. Phone: (518) 473-7487. Fax: (518) 473-1326. E-mail: ship{at}wadsworth.org.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 2005, p. 4980-4988, Vol. 49, No. 12
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.12.4980-4988.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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