The Anti-COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir Promotes Oncogenic Herpesvirus Reactivation through Regulation of Intracellular Signaling Pathways #MMPMID35041508
Chen J; Dai L; Kendrick S; Post SR; Qin Z
Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2022[Mar]; 66 (3): e0239521 PMID35041508show ga
Recently, remdesivir and molnupiravir were approved for treating COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, little is known about the impact of these drugs on other viruses preexisted in COVID-19 patients. Here we report that remdesivir but not molnupiravir induced lytic reactivation of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), two major oncogenic herpesviruses. Remdesivir induced mature virion production from latently infected cells. Mechanistic studies showed that remdesivir induced KSHV and EBV reactivation by regulating several intracellular signaling pathways.