Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec 18;16(12):1937.
doi: 10.3390/v16121937.

Photodynamic Inactivation of Human Herpes Virus In Vitro with Ga(III) and Zn(II) Phthalocyanines

Neli Vilhelmova-Ilieva  1 , Vanya Mantareva  2 , Diana Braikova  2 , Ivan Iliev  3   4
Affiliations

Photodynamic Inactivation of Human Herpes Virus In Vitro with Ga(III) and Zn(II) Phthalocyanines

Neli Vilhelmova-Ilieva et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) has been revealed as a valuable approach against viral infections because of the fast therapeutic effect and low possibility of resistance development. The photodynamic inhibition of the infectivity of human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) strain Victoria at different stages of its reproduction was studied. PDI activity was determined on extracellular virions, on the stage of their adsorption to the Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cell line and inhibition of the viral replication stage by application of two tetra-methylpyridiloxy substituted gallium and zinc phthalocyanines (ZnPcMe and GaPcMe) upon 660 nm light exposure with a light-emitting diode (LED 660 nm). The PDI effect was evaluated on extracellular virions and virus adsorption by the terminal dilution method and the change in viral infectivity, which was compared to the untreated control group. The decrease in viral titer (Δlgs) was determined. The effect on the replicative cycle of the virus was determined using the cytopathic effect inhibition (CPE) assay. The direct influence on the virions showed a remarkable effect with a decrease in the viral titer more than 4 (Δlg > 4). The influence of the virus to the cell on the stage of adsorption was also significantly affected by the exposure time and the concentration of applied photosensitizers. A distinct inhibition was evaluated for ZnPcMe at the viral replication stage, which demonstrated a high photoinactivation index (PII = 33.0). This study suggested the high efficacy of PDI with phthalocyanines on HSV-1 virus, with full inhibition caused by the mechanism of singlet oxygen generation. These promising data are a good basis for further investigations on the PDI application against pathogenic viruses.

Keywords: enveloped viruses; herpes simplex virus type 1; photodynamic inactivation; phthalocyanines; viral adsorption; viral replication; virucidal effect.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phthalocyanine complexes (ZnPcMe and GaPcMe) used in the antiviral study on HSV-1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Absorption spectra of phthalocyanines in dimethylsulphoxide and water (10−5 M).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

  • Membrane-Targeting Antivirals.
    Krasilnikov MS, Denisov VS, Korshun VA, Ustinov AV, Alferova VA. Krasilnikov MS, et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Jul 28;26(15):7276. doi: 10.3390/ijms26157276. Int J Mol Sci. 2025. PMID: 40806409 Free PMC article. Review.

References

    1. Whitley R. Herpes Simplex Virus. In: Fields B., Knipe D., Howley P., editors. Fields Virology. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; Philadelphia, PA, USA: 1995. pp. 2461–2509.
    1. Aurelian L. Herpes Simplex Virus. In: Specter S., Hodinka R.L., Young S.A., editors. Clinical Virology Manual. American Society for Microbiology; Washington, AC, USA: 2000. pp. 384–409.
    1. Carr D., Harle P., Gebhardt B.M. The immune response to ocular herpes simplex virus type 1 infection. Exp. Biol. Med. 2001;226:353–366. doi: 10.1177/153537020122600501. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bautista L., Sirimanotham C., Espinoza J., Cheng D., Tay S., Drayman N. A drug repurposing screen identifies decitabine as an HSV-1 antiviral. Microbiol. Spectr. 2024;12:e0175424. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01754-24. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization Herpes Simplex Virus. [(accessed on 13 September 2024)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/herpes-simplex-virus.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources