Igor MazurWalter J. WurzerChristina EhrhardtStephan PleschkaPilaipan PuthavathanaTobias SilberzahnThorsten WolffOliver PlanzStephan LudwigWestfalische Wilhelms-Universitat MunsterJustus Liebig University GiessenMahidol UniversityFriedrich-Loeffler-InstituteRobert Koch InstitutAventis Pharma2018-08-242018-08-242007-07-01Cellular Microbiology. Vol.9, No.7 (2007), 1683-169414625822146258142-s2.0-34250783318https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/24179Influenza is still one of the major plagues worldwide. The statistical likeliness of a new pandemic outbreak highlights the urgent need for new and amply available antiviral drugs. We and others have shown that influenza virus misuses the cellular IKK/NF-κB signalling pathway for efficient replication suggesting that this module may be a suitable target for antiviral intervention. Here we examined acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), also known as aspirin, a widely used drug with a well-known capacity to inhibit NF-κB. We show that the drug efficiently blocks influenza virus replication in vitro and in vivo in a mechanism involving impaired expression of proapoptotic factors, subsequent inhibition of caspase activation as well as block of caspase-mediated nuclear export of viral ribonucleoproteins. As ASA showed no toxic side-effects or the tendency to induce resistant virus variants, existing salicylate-based aerosolic drugs may be suitable as anti-influenza agents. This is the first demonstration that specific targeting of a cellular factor is a suitable approach for anti-influenza virus intervention. © 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Mahidol UniversityBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyImmunology and MicrobiologyArticleSCOPUS10.1111/j.1462-5822.2007.00902.x