Screening of PI3K-Akt-targeting Drugs for Silkworm against Bombyx mori Nucleopolyhedrovirus PMID: 30939726

ADC Targets in Oncology

2026-04-10

Screening of PI3K-Akt-targeting Drugs for Silkworm against Bombyx mori Nucleopolyhedrovirus

Molecules. 2019 Apr 1;24(7):1260. doi: 10.3390/molecules24071260.

Bingbing Wang ¹ ² ³ , Liang Jiang ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ , Huizhen Guo ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ , Qiang Sun ¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹² , Yumei Wang ¹³ ¹⁴ ¹⁵ , Enyu Xie ¹⁶ ¹⁷ ¹⁸ , Qingyou Xia ¹⁹ ²⁰ ²¹

Affiliations

1. Biological Science Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
2. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Sericultural Science, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
3. Chongqing Engineering and Technology Research Center for Novel Silk Materials, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
4. Biological Science Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
5. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Sericultural Science, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
6. Chongqing Engineering and Technology Research Center for Novel Silk Materials, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
7. Biological Science Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
8. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Sericultural Science, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
9. Chongqing Engineering and Technology Research Center for Novel Silk Materials, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
10. Biological Science Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
11. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Sericultural Science, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
12. Chongqing Engineering and Technology Research Center for Novel Silk Materials, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
13. Biological Science Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
14. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Sericultural Science, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
15. Chongqing Engineering and Technology Research Center for Novel Silk Materials, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
16. Biological Science Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
17. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Sericultural Science, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
18. Chongqing Engineering and Technology Research Center for Novel Silk Materials, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
19. Biological Science Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
20. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Sericultural Science, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].
21. Chongqing Engineering and Technology Research Center for Novel Silk Materials, Chongqing 400716, China. [email protected].

Abstract

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is the most prevalent threat to silkworms. Hence, there is a need for Antiviral agents in sericulture. The PI3K-Akt pathway is essential for the efficient replication of the baculovirus. In an attempt to screen Antiviral drugs against BmNPV, we summarized the commercial compounds targeting PI3K-Akt and selected the following seven oral drugs for further analyses: afuresertib, AZD8835, AMG319, HS173, AS605240, GDC0941, and BEZ235. Cell viability assay revealed that the cytotoxicity of these drugs at 10 µM concentration was not strong. Viral fluorescence observation and qPCR analysis showed that these candidate drugs significantly inhibited BmNPV in BmE cells. Only AMG319 and AZD8835 inhibited viral proliferation in silkworm larvae. The mortality of AZD8835-treated silkworms was lower than that of the control silkworms. Western blotting showed that AMG319 and AZD8835 decreased p-Akt expression after BmNPV Infection. These results suggest that AZD8835 has application potential in sericulture.

Keywords

AZD8835; BmNPV; PI3K-Akt; antivirus; silkworm.