Glycyrrhizic Acid-Based Carbonized Dots Boost Antiviral Activity against Influenza A Virus via Multisite Inhibition Mechanisms

Influenza A virus (IVA) has been continuously causing pandemics in several animal hosts and has become a worldwide public health threat. Currently, antiviral drugs have become associated with a lot of side effects and limited activity against emerging drug-resistant influenza viruses. Therefore, the development of novel antiviral drugs is of great importance. In this study, we synthesized a kind of carbon dots (CDs) with high dispersibility from glycyrrhizic acid (GA) using a simple dry heating method. Compared with glycyrrhizic acid alone, GA-CDs exhibit superior solubility and significantly improve the antiviral property against IVA. Investigation of the mechanism revealed that GA-CDs act against IVA mainly by inhibiting viral internalization, replication of the viral genome, neuraminidase activity, and host inflammatory responses. More importantly, in a mouse model, GA-CDs can significantly alleviate the clinical symptoms and decrease mortality and lung viral titers. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate that GA-CDs possess extraordinary therapeutic effects; therefore, we propose that GA-CDs may be a alternative therapy for IVA infection.

Automated summary

Researchers synthesized highly dispersible carbon dots from glycyrrhizic acid using a simple dry heating method. These carbon dots, named GA-CDs, showed improved solubility and significantly enhanced antiviral properties against influenza A virus (IVA) compared to glycyrrhizic acid alone. Mechanistic investigations revealed that GA-CDs primarily act against IVA by inhibiting viral internalization, replication, neuraminidase activity, and host inflammatory responses. In vivo experiments in a mouse model demonstrated that GA-CDs effectively reduced clinical symptoms, mortality, and lung viral titers. These findings suggest that GA-CDs may serve as an alternative therapy for IVA infection.