Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team May 20, 2026 49 minutes ago
Medical News: A team of European researchers in 2019 had uncovered a promising new class of antiviral compounds that may eventually change how deadly Hantavirus infections are treated. Scientists from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Cagliari in Italy, the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Sassari in Italy, the Institute of Virology at the Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, and the Charité School of Medicine in Berlin focused on a complex group of chemicals known as benzotriazole derivatives and discovered that several of them showed extremely strong activity against Hantavirus in laboratory studies.
Newly engineered benzotriazole compounds may become powerful future treatments against deadly Hantavirus infections
The compounds studied are called 5,6-dichloro-2-phenyl-2H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazoles. While the name may sound intimidating, these are specially engineered antiviral molecules created to interfere with the virus’s ability to reproduce inside infected cells. Researchers tested many different versions of these compounds, but three stood out in particular: compound 2j, compound 2l, and especially compound 2n.
Why Hantavirus Is So Dangerous
Hantaviruses are spread mainly through contact with infected rodent urine, saliva, and feces. Once inhaled or transmitted to humans, the viruses can attack blood vessels, lungs, kidneys, and the immune system.
In Asia and Europe, Hantavirus infections often lead to hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, a severe illness involving internal bleeding and kidney failure. In the Americas, certain strains can trigger hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which rapidly fills the lungs with fluid and can become fatal within days.
Currently, there are no FDA-approved drugs specifically designed for Hantavirus infections. Doctors mainly rely on supportive care such as oxygen therapy, dialysis, and intensive monitoring. The antiviral drug ribavirin has shown some benefit in certain patients, but its effectiveness remains inconsistent and the drug can cause serious side effects including bone marrow suppression and toxicity.
Compound 2n Emerges as The Star Candidate
Among all the compounds tested, one molecule called derivative 2n produced particularly stunning results.
The full chemical group it belongs to is known as 5,6-dichloro-2-phenyl-benzotriazoles. Scientists found that compound 2n inhibited Hantavirus replication at an EC50 value of only 4 micromoles. In simple terms, this means only a very small amount of the compound was needed to stop the virus from multiplying. Ribavirin, by comparison, required 37 micromoles to achieve similar antiviral activity.
That means compound 2n was roughly ten times more potent than ribavirin in the experiments.
The researchers also compared 2n against other experimental antiviral drugs. The compound outperformed ETAR, formally known as 1-beta-D-ribofuranosyl-3-ethynyl-[1,2,4]-triazole, and was dramatically stronger than Favipiravir, another antiviral drug candidate previously explored for Hantavirus infections.
&a
mp;nbsp;
Detailed Testing Revealed Massive Viral Reductions
The scientists conducted specialized laboratory experiments known as chemiluminescence focus reduction assays and viral yield reduction assays using infected Vero E6 cells inside biosafety level 3 containment laboratories.
In these tests, compounds 2j, 2l, and 2n all caused major reductions in the amount of infectious virus produced by infected cells.
Compound 2l reduced viral production by more than 3 log10 units, while compound 2n reduced viral levels by 2.41 log10 units. Compound 2j also showed significant suppression of viral replication. Ribavirin, despite being used at much higher doses of 50 micromoles, produced weaker reductions in viral load.
Importantly, most of the benzotriazole compounds also demonstrated relatively low toxicity toward healthy cells, suggesting they may have a safer therapeutic profile.
This
Medical News report also highlights an interesting discovery involving the structure of the molecules themselves. Researchers found that the presence of two chlorine atoms attached to the benzotriazole core at positions C5 and C6 was absolutely critical. When these chlorine atoms were removed or replaced with methyl groups, the antiviral activity vanished almost completely.
Conclusions
The findings represent one of the most exciting experimental breakthroughs yet in Hantavirus antiviral research. The newly developed 5,6-dichloro-2-phenyl-2H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazole compounds, particularly derivative 2n, displayed remarkably strong antiviral activity while requiring much lower concentrations than ribavirin and several other experimental drugs. Researchers believe these compounds could serve as the foundation for an entirely new generation of targeted Hantavirus treatments. Although human clinical trials are still needed, the study provides strong scientific evidence that these engineered benzotriazole molecules may eventually offer doctors a far more effective weapon against deadly Hantavirus infections.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Viruses.
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/12/1/122
For the latest on Hantavirus, keep on logging to Thailand
Medical News.
Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/hantavirus-news
Share
Tweet
Share
