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Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Published in: Medical Microbiology and Immunology 6/2015

01-12-2015 | Original Investigation

The anti-obesity drug orlistat reveals anti-viral activity

Authors: Elisabeth Ammer, Sandor Nietzsche, Christian Rien, Alexander Kühnl, Theresa Mader, Regine Heller, Andreas Sauerbrei, Andreas Henke

Published in: Medical Microbiology and Immunology | Issue 6/2015

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Abstract

The administration of drugs to inhibit metabolic pathways not only reduces the risk of obesity-induced diseases in humans but may also hamper the replication of different viral pathogens. In order to investigate the value of the US Food and Drug Administration-approved anti-obesity drug orlistat in view of its anti-viral activity against different human-pathogenic viruses, several anti-viral studies, electron microscopy analyses as well as fatty acid uptake experiments were performed. The results indicate that administrations of non-cytotoxic concentrations of orlistat reduced the replication of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) in different cell types significantly. Moreover, orlistat revealed cell protective effects and modified the formation of multi-layered structures in CVB3-infected cells, which are necessary for viral replication. Lowering fatty acid uptake from the extracellular environment by phloretin administrations had only marginal impact on CVB3 replication. Finally, orlistat reduced also the replication of varicella-zoster virus moderately but had no significant influence on the replication of influenza A viruses. The data support further experiments into the value of orlistat as an inhibitor of the fatty acid synthase to develop new anti-viral compounds, which are based on the modulation of cellular metabolic pathways.
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Metadata
Title
The anti-obesity drug orlistat reveals anti-viral activity
Authors
Elisabeth Ammer
Sandor Nietzsche
Christian Rien
Alexander Kühnl
Theresa Mader
Regine Heller
Andreas Sauerbrei
Andreas Henke
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Medical Microbiology and Immunology / Issue 6/2015
Print ISSN: 0300-8584
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1831
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00430-015-0391-4

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