TY - JOUR T1 - Chloroquine inhibits Zika Virus infection in different cellular models JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/051268 SP - 051268 AU - Rodrigo Delvecchio AU - Luiza M Higa AU - Paula Pezzuto AU - Ana Luiza Valadão AU - Patrícia P Garcez AU - Fábio L Monteiro AU - Erick C. Loiola AU - Stevens Rehen AU - Loraine Campanati AU - Renato Santana de Aguiar AU - Amilcar Tanuri Y1 - 2016/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/05/02/051268.abstract N2 - Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in utero might lead to microcephaly and other congenital defects. In adults, cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome and meningoencephalitis associated with ZIKV infection have been reported, and no specific therapy is available so far. There is urgency for the discovery of antiviral agents capable of inhibiting viral replication and its deleterious effects. Chloroquine is widely administered as an antimalarial drug, anti-inflammatory agent, and it also shows antiviral activity against several viruses. Here we show that chloroquine exhibits antiviral activity against ZIKV in VERO, human brain microvascular endothelial, and neural stem cells. We demonstrated in vitro that chloroquine reduces the number of ZIKV-infected cells, virus production and cell death promoted by ZIKV infection without cytotoxic effects. Our results suggest that chloroquine is a promising candidate for ZIKV clinical trials, since it is already approved for clinical use and can be safely administered to pregnant woman. ER -