ProfG is on his crusade to target EBV….There are many ways to do this and one route is anti-virals and this is one example….Sounds interesting.
Brincidofovir (BCV) is a broad-spectrum anti-viral agent and lipid-conjugate of cidofovir. The intracellular active form of BCV is known as CDV-PP (cidofovir diphosphate) and inhibits viral replication. I guess we need to wait for a trial to see if there is benefit
Donaldson A, Druker MR, Monaco MC, Stack EH, Zimmerman P, Lee A, Bialuk I, Frazier W, Cortese I, Narver H, Hazama M, Yoshida F, Li X, Krug LT, Piotrowski SL, Jacobson S. Broad-spectrum antiviral brincidofovir inhibits Epstein-Barr virus and related gammaherpesvirus in human and nonhuman primate cells. J Clin Invest. 2025 Nov 25:e195764. doi: 10.1172/JCI195764.
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is of growing interest for its potential role in neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and its possible utility as a therapeutic target in herpesvirus-associated chronic diseases. The effects of brincidofovir (BCV) on EBV reactivation were evaluated in vitro using EBV-infected spontaneous lymphoblastoid cell lines (SLCLs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from MS patients and healthy controls. In addition, a B lymphoblastoid cell line and PBMCs from common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) naturally infected with an EBV-related gammaherpesvirus (Callitrichine herpesvirus 3, CalHV-3) were used to measure BCV efficacy in a nonhuman primate model. BCV significantly inhibited gammaherpesvirus reactivation, with decreased lytic and latent viral transcript expression. These results suggest that BCV may be a useful antiviral for inhibiting EBV activity in MS patients. Additionally, this work further validates the utility of CalHV-3 in marmosets as a translational model for the investigation of successful EBV-targeting therapeutics.
Source: multiple-sclerosis-research.org