{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,20]],"date-time":"2026-01-20T01:51:36Z","timestamp":1768873896780,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,18]],"date-time":"2021-01-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1610928000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001711","name":"Swiss National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["SNSF CRSII5_183481 to RR, PP and DF"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SNSF CRSII5_183481 to RR, PP and DF"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001711","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Gottfried and Julia Bangerter-Rhyner Foundation","award":["to PP"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["to PP"]}]},{"name":"SNSF\/NCCR Chemical Biology","award":["to PP"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["to PP"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Canine distemper virus (CDV), a close relative of the human pathogen measles virus (MeV), is an enveloped, negative sense RNA virus that belongs to the genus Morbillivirus and causes severe diseases in dogs and other carnivores. Although the vaccination is available as a preventive measure against the disease, the occasional vaccination failure highlights the importance of therapeutic alternatives such as antivirals against CDV. The morbilliviral cell entry system relies on two interacting envelope glycoproteins: the attachment (H) and fusion (F) proteins. Here, to potentially discover novel entry inhibitors targeting CDV H, F and\/or the cognate receptor: signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM) proteins, we designed a quantitative cell-based fusion assay that matched high-throughput screening (HTS) settings. By screening two libraries of small molecule compounds, we successfully identified two membrane fusion inhibitors (F2736-3056 and F2261-0043). Although both inhibitors exhibited similarities in structure and potency with the small molecule compound 3G (an AS-48 class morbilliviral F-protein inhibitor), F2736-3056 displayed improved efficacy in blocking fusion activity when a 3G-escape variant was employed. Altogether, we present a cell-based fusion assay that can be utilized not only to discover antiviral agents against CDV but also to dissect the mechanism of morbilliviral-mediated cell-binding and cell-to-cell fusion activity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v13010128","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,21]],"date-time":"2021-01-21T02:36:05Z","timestamp":1611196565000},"page":"128","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Antiviral Screen against Canine Distemper Virus-Induced Membrane Fusion Activity"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Neeta","family":"Shrestha","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Experimental and Clinical Research, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Flavio M.","family":"Gall","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Center for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), CH-8820 W\u00e4denswil, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jonathan","family":"Vesin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biomolecular Screening Facility, Ecole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marc","family":"Chambon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biomolecular Screening Facility, Ecole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gerardo","family":"Turcatti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biomolecular Screening Facility, Ecole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dimitrios","family":"Fotiadis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) TransCure, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2534-1963","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rainer","family":"Riedl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Center for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), CH-8820 W\u00e4denswil, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Philippe","family":"Plattet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Experimental and Clinical Research, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3165","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.2007.0884","article-title":"Pathogen evolution and disease emergence in carnivores","volume":"274","author":"McCarthy","year":"2007","journal-title":"Proc. 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