Marielle Cochet, François Piumi, Kamila Gorna, Noémie Berry, Gaëlle Gonzalez, Anne Danckaert, Nathalie Aulner, Odile Blanchet, Stéphan Zientara, Francesc Xavier Donadeu, Hélène Munier-Lehmann, Jennifer Richardson, Alexandra Benchoua, Muriel Coulpier
Outbreaks of West Nile virus (WNV) occur periodically, affecting both human and equine populations. There are no vaccines for humans, and those commercialised for horses do not have sufficient coverage. Specific antiviral treatments do not exist. Many drug discovery studies have been conducted, but since rodent or primate cell lines are normally used, results cannot always be transposed to horses. There is thus a need to develop relevant equine cellular models. Here, we used induced pluripotent stem cells to develop a new in vitro model of WNV-infected equine brain cells suitable for microplate assay, and assessed the cytotoxicity and antiviral activity of forty-one chemical compounds...
March 16, 2024: Veterinary Research