Abstract
Several RNA viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, can infect or use the eye as an entry portal to cause ocular or systemic diseases. Povidone-Iodine (PVP-I) is routinely used during ocular surgeries and eye banking as a cost-effective disinfectant due to its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, including against viruses. However, whether PVP-I can exert antiviral activities in virus-infected cells remains elusive. In this study, using Zika (ZIKV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV) virus infection of human corneal and retinal pigment epithelial cells, we report antiviral mechanisms of PVP-I. Our data showed that PVP-I, even at the lowest concentration (0.01%), drastically reduced viral replication in corneal and retinal cells without causing cellular toxicity. Antiviral effects of PVP-I against ZIKV and CHIKV were mediated by direct viral inactivation, thus attenuating the ability of the virus to infect host cells. Moreover, one-minute PVP-I exposure of infected ocular cells drastically reduced viral replication and the production of infectious progeny virions. Furthermore, viral-induced (CHIKV) expression of inflammatory genes (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, and IL1β) were markedly reduced in PVP-I treated corneal epithelial cells. Together, our results demonstrate potent antiviral effects of PVP-I against ZIKV and CHIKV infection of ocular cells. Thus, a low dose of PVP-I can be used during tissue harvesting for corneal transplants to prevent potential transmission of RNA viruses via infected cells.
Highlights
RNA virus epidemics continue to threaten human health, with epidemics caused by Zika virus (ZIKV), Ebola virus (EBOV), Dengue virus (DENV), Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and more recently the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARSCoV-2), the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic [1,2,3,4]
We were not able to definitively determine the effectiveness of PVP-I in our study because of the small sample size, we found that PVP-I-treated donor eyes were negative for SARS-CoV-2
We first assessed whether PVP-I directly inactivates the Zika virus and Chikungunya virus, which are both capable of causthe ZikaBoth virus and Chikungunya areexposed both capable causing ocular ing ocular anomalies inactivates
Summary
RNA virus epidemics continue to threaten human health, with epidemics caused by Zika virus (ZIKV), Ebola virus (EBOV), Dengue virus (DENV), Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and more recently the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARSCoV-2), the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic [1,2,3,4]. We previously reported ocular complications due to flaviviruses [5], especially those caused by ZIKV [6,7,8]. Other clinical and experimental studies have reported the presence of ZIKV in tears, conjunctiva, and the ocular surface. Among the RNA viruses, CHIKV has been reported to infect the human cornea and can be transmitted via the ocular route [3,10,11,12,13]. Together, these clinical and experimental pieces of evidence indicate RNA viruses can cause ocular surface complications. We showed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in 13% of corneas from
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