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Journal of Virology, September 2005, p. 11062-11070, Vol. 79, No. 17
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.79.17.11062-11070.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Dipyridamole Reversibly Inhibits Mengovirus RNA Replication

Cori L. Fata-Hartley and Ann C. Palmenberg^*

Institute for Molecular Virology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Received 10 January 2005/ Accepted 1 June 2005

Dipyridamole is an effective inhibitor of cardiovirus growth in cell culture. The effects of dipyridamole on mengovirus replication in vivo and in vitro were examined in the hope the drug could be used as an experimental analog of the poliovirus inhibitor guanidine. Guanidine selectively inhibits poliovirus RNA synthesis but not RNA translation, and as such, has been a valuable research tool. Although guanidine does not inhibit cardiovirus infection, a compound with similar discriminatory characteristics would be experimentally useful for parallel work with these viruses. We found that mengovirus plaque formation in HeLa or L cells was inhibited nearly 100% by the presence of 80 µM dipyridamole. The inhibitory effect was reversible and targeted an early step in the replication cycle. Studies with luciferase-expressing mengovirus replicons showed that viral protein synthesis was unaffected by dipyridamole, and rather, RNA synthesis was the step targeted by the drug. This assessment was confirmed by direct analyses of viral translation and RNA synthesis activities in a Krebs-2-derived in vitro system that supported complete, infectious cardiovirus replication. In Krebs extracts, dipyridamole specifically inhibited viral RNA synthesis to more than 95%, with no concomitant effect on viral protein translation or polyprotein processing. The observed inhibition reversibly affected an early step in both minus-strand and plus-strand RNA synthesis, although inhibition of plus-strand synthesis was more profound than that of minus-strand synthesis. We conclude that dipyridamole is a potent experimental tool that readily distinguishes between cardiovirus translation and RNA replication functions.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Molecular Virology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Phone: (608) 262-7519. Fax: (608) 262-7519. E-mail: acpalmen{at}wisc.edu.

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Journal of Virology, September 2005, p. 11062-11070, Vol. 79, No. 17
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.79.17.11062-11070.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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