Virus inactivation by anilinonaphthalene sulfonate compounds and comparison with other ligands

Bis-(8-anilinonaphthalene-1-sulfonate) (bis-ANS) causes inactivation of ves icular stomatitis virus (VSV) at micromolar concentrations while butyl-ANS and ANS are effective at concentrations one and two orders of magnitude hig her, respectively. VSV fully inactivated by the combined effects of 10 mu M bis-ANS and 2.5 kbar hydrostatic pressure elicited a high titer of neutral izing antibodies. Incubation of VSV with greater than or equal to 2 M urea at atmospheric pressure caused very little virus inactivation, whereas at a pressure of 2.5 kbar, 1 M urea caused inactivation that exceeded by more t han two orders of magnitude the sum of the inactivating effects produced by urea and pressure separately. Measurements of bis-ANS fluorescence showed that increasing the urea concentration reduces the pressure required to dis rupt the structure. We conclude that anilinonaphthalene sulfonate compounds inactivate VSV by a mechanism similar to that produced by pressure. The mo st effective antiviral compound was bis-ANS which can be used for the prepa ration of safe viral vaccines or as an antiviral drug eventually. (C) 2000 Academic Press.