• The Antiviral effect of Selenium on the Replication of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1
  • Mohammad Shayestehpour,1,* Faezeh Ebneali,2 Zahrasadat Fateminasab,3
    1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
    2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
    3. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran


  • Introduction: Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) is an enveloped double-stranded DNA virus that infects about 70% of the world population. Selenium as a cofactor for glutathione peroxidase has a key role in antioxidant defense for cells. Several studies have reported that selenium deficiency promotes viral mutations, replication, and the emergence of more pathogenic forms of viruses. Selenium can be an antiviral, but its direct effect on HSV-1 is unknown. The present study was designed to evaluate the antiviral effect of selenium (Se) against HSV-1.
  • Methods: After determining cytotoxicity by MTT assay, selenium (0.5 uM, 1 uM) was added to HeLa cells 24 h before (pre-infection treatment) and 24 h after (post-infection treatment) HSV-1 inoculation. After 47 h of incubation at 37°C, the viral titer and expression levels of the UL47 gene were determined by tissue culture infectious dose 50 (TCID50) and Real-Time PCR methods, respectively.
  • Results: Selenium with concentrations of 0.5 uM to 4 uM had cytotoxicity lower than 50% during 24 h and 48 h incubation. HSV-1 titer in all experimental assays was significantly lower than the virus titer in the control group. In general, the reduction of virus titer in post-infection assay was lower than pre-infection assay. Se in concentration of 1 uM could reduce the virus titer about 2.33 Log10 TCID50/ml. Se in concentrations of 0.5 uM and 1 uM decreased UL47 gene expression level about 1.6 and 2-fold, respectively.
  • Conclusion: Selenium has potent antiviral activity against HSV-1. However, further studies are needed to clarify the antiviral mechanism of selenium.
  • Keywords: selenium-herpes simplex virus-Antiviral