Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Drug screen reveals new potent host-targeted antivirals against Mpox virus
doi: 10.1101/2025.05.02.651913
Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Representative immunofluorescence images of MPXV-infected VK2/E6E7 cells treated with seven selected drug compounds at varying concentrations (1.657, 0.828, 0.414, 0.207, 0.103, and 0.051 µM) for 48 hours post-infection (hpi). Blue and red indicate nuclei and MPXV-A4L antigen, respectively. Scale bar = 100 µm. (B) The dose-response curves of the indicated compounds are shown. The percentage of MPXV-Dose–response curves showing percent inhibition of MPXV infection in VK2/E6E7 cells treated with the indicated compounds. Cells were infected with MPXV and fixed at 48 hours post-infection (hpi) for immunofluorescence analysis. Infection levels were calculated as the ratio of MPXV-positive cells (red) to total DAPI-stained nuclei (blue), normalized to vehicle-treated controls. Percent inhibition values were derived as 1 minus the normalized infectivity. Nonlinear regression was used to calculate IC 50 values, which are displayed along with curve fit R values. The dotted horizontal line indicates 50% inhibition. Data represent the mean ± standard deviation from triplicate wells.
Article Snippet: The VK2/E6E7 (VK2) human vaginal epithelial cell line (ATCC, CRL-2616) was maintained in keratinocyte serum-free medium (KSFM) supplemented with 0.1 ng/mL human recombinant epidermal growth factor (EGF), 0.05 mg/mL bovine pituitary extract (BPE), and 100 U/mL penicillin-streptomycin.
Techniques: Immunofluorescence, Infection, Inhibition, Staining, Derivative Assay, Standard Deviation