{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T21:21:21Z","timestamp":1781731281616,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,10]],"date-time":"2020-05-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1589068800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006692","name":"Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Torino","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Ricerca Locale"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Ricerca Locale"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006692","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003407","name":"Ministero dell\u2019Istruzione, dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 e della Ricerca","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PRIN 2015W729WH"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PRIN 2015W729WH"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003407","name":"Ministero dell\u2019Istruzione, dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 e della Ricerca","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PRIN 2015RMNSTA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PRIN 2015RMNSTA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread pathogen and is associated with severe diseases in immunocompromised individuals. Moreover, HCMV infection is the most frequent cause of congenital malformation in developed countries. Although nucleoside analogs have been successfully employed against HCMV, their use is hampered by the occurrence of serious side effects. There is thus an urgent clinical need for less toxic, but highly effective, antiviral drugs. Strigolactones (SLs) are a novel class of plant hormones with a multifaceted activity. While their role in plant-related fields has been extensively explored, their effects on human cells and their potential applications in medicine are far from being fully exploited. In particular, their antiviral activity has never been investigated. In the present study, a panel of SL analogs has been assessed for antiviral activity against HCMV. We demonstrate that TH-EGO and EDOT-EGO significantly inhibit HCMV replication in vitro, impairing late protein expression. Moreover, we show that the SL-dependent induction of apoptosis in HCMV-infected cells is a contributing mechanism to SL antiviral properties. Overall, our results indicate that SLs may be a promising alternative to nucleoside analogs for the treatment of HCMV infections.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms8050703","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,11]],"date-time":"2020-05-11T10:01:18Z","timestamp":1589191278000},"page":"703","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Strigolactone Analogs Are Promising Antiviral Agents for the Treatment of Human Cytomegalovirus Infection"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7675-0762","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matteo","family":"Biolatti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6553-8846","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marco","family":"Blangetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, University of Turin, 10125 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giulia","family":"D\u2019Arrigo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4016-227X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesca","family":"Spyrakis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5321-7794","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paola","family":"Cappello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, 10125 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0847-6332","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Camilla","family":"Albano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paolo","family":"Ravanini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory Medicine Department, Laboratory of Molecular Virology, \u201cMaggiore della Carit\u00e0\u201d Hospital, 28100 Novara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3153-2865","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Santo","family":"Landolfo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3188-5783","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marco","family":"De Andrea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"},{"name":"Center for Translational Research on Autoimmune and Allergic Disease-CAAD, 28100 Novara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cristina","family":"Prandi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, University of Turin, 10125 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9336-7906","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valentina","family":"Dell\u2019Oste","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"288","DOI":"10.1002\/path.4437","article-title":"The pathogenesis of human cytomegalovirus","volume":"235","author":"Griffiths","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. 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