In an article published in PLoS Pathogens researchers report that they have succeeded in slowing down the replication of dengue fever virus in the lab using anti-obesity drugs.

A team at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) discovered that the dengue virus hijacks fat droplets inside cells and uses them to build new infectious virus particles. They were subsequently able to slow down dengue virus assembly in a Petri dish, using experimental obesity drugs (fatty acid synthase inhibitors) that deplete cells of fat droplets.

The same team, led by Andrea Gamarnik, has already published extensively on dengue. Whilst this research is at a very ‘basic’ level it provides hope that treatments could be developed against the disease, of which there are an estimated 50 million cases every year leading to some 25,000 deaths. At present there is no specific treatment for patients with dengue. Anti-dengue drugs could also prove effective against other diseases caused by relates viruses in the flavivirus family; these include yellow fever and West Nile fever

A summary of the new research is available in an HHMI press release.