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ANTIVIRALS

New activities for old antibiotics

Nature Microbiology volume 3, pages 531–532 (2018)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 19 June 2018

This article has been updated

Topical administration of aminoglycoside antibiotics has been shown to induce expression of interferon-stimulated genes in dendritic cells, inducing an antiviral state in the vaginal and lung mucosa that increases resistance to infection with herpes simplex virus 1, influenza and Zika viruses.

Aminoglycoside antibiotics — which bind to prokaryotic ribosomal RNA to inhibit protein synthesis — have been used since the 1940s to treat bacterial infections1. At present, tobramycin, gentamicin, amikacin, streptomycin, neomycin and paromomycin are approved for use in patients. However, aminoglycosides have other activities in addition to their antibacterial properties2. For example, some aminoglycosides bind to human ribosomal mRNA, which can result in read-through of premature stop codons, and have been used in clinical trials for treatment of genetic disorders. Aminoglycosides also bind to other RNAs, including ribozymes, resulting in inhibition of the latter’s activity, and to the trans-activation response (TAR) element in HIV, resulting in dissociation of the HIV Tat protein from the viral genome. Gopinath et al.3 report in this issue of Nature Microbiology that certain aminoglycosides can inhibit virus replication in cell culture, and that prophylactic application of these antibiotics to mucosal surfaces in mice can reduce virus replication. They show that this effect is not mediated through their action on the microbiota of the animal, since similar effects are seen in germ-free mice. Rather, aminoglycosides induce the mucosal recruitment and expression of interferon (IFN)-stimulated genes (ISGs) in dendritic cells in a Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3)-dependent manner, which probably accounts for their antiviral activity. Certain aminoglycosides, including neomycin and kanamycin, induced ISGs, while others such as streptomycin and amikacin did not. Importantly, only aminoglycosides that induced ISGs protected mice from challenge with herpes simplex virus (HSV). Topical administration of certain aminoglycosides can also prolong survival in mice after intranasal challenge with influenza and reduce shedding after intravaginal challenge with Zika virus.

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Fig. 1: Activation of ISGs by aminoglycosides, poly I:C or double-stranded RNA after virus infection.

Change history

  • 19 June 2018

    In the version of this News and Views originally published, the author made an incorrect reference to ‘mice deficient in Mx1’. This has now been corrected so that the text instead refers to ‘mice congenic for Mx1’. The full corrected sentence reads as “Pretreatment of mice congenic for Mx1, an ISG that is critical for protection of animals from influenza, with intranasal neomycin significantly improved survival; however, about 50% of the mice died.”

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  1. Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jeffrey I. Cohen

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Correspondence to Jeffrey I. Cohen.

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Cohen, J.I. New activities for old antibiotics. Nat Microbiol 3, 531–532 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-018-0152-4

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