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American Society for Microbiology, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 10(64), 2020

DOI: 10.1128/aac.00056-20

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The Clinically Approved Antifungal Drug Posaconazole Inhibits Human Cytomegalovirus Replication

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Posaconazole (PCZ) is a clinically approved drug used predominantly for prophylaxis and salvage therapy of fungal infections. Here, we report its previously undescribed anti-human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) activity. By using antiviral assays, we demonstrated that PCZ, along with other azolic antifungals, has a broad anti-HCMV activity, being active against different strains, including low-passage-number clinical isolates and strains resistant to viral DNA polymerase inhibitors. Using a pharmacological approach, we identified the inhibition of human cytochrome P450 51 (hCYP51), or lanosterol 14α demethylase, a cellular target of posaconazole in infected cells, as a mechanism of anti-HCMV activity of the drug.