Marine Natural Products in the Battle against Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya Arboviruses

Abstract

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are a severe public health problem worldwide, consisting of a significant part of all the emerging infectious diseases. It is estimated that arboviruses infect hundreds of millions of people globally each year, resulting in several thousand deaths. Despite their clear health threat, there are no prophylactic or pharmacological therapies available for most of them. Control of arbovirus infections is beyond pharmacological options; handling the larvae of mosquitos is an important and successful strategy, although currently available insecticides and larvicides are already associated with resistance. Therefore, searching for new strategies to prevent arbovirus infection is urgent and necessary. Marine organisms are an excellent source for structurally novel compounds due to their unique secondary metabolism, with outstanding antiviral and larvicidal activities. In the present review, we explored the ability of various marine natural products (MNPs) such as indole derivatives, diketopiperazines, scequinadoline A, cyclohexadepsipeptides, and others, to act as both antiviral and larvicidal, in an attempt to highlight their structure activity potential against the most relevant arboviruses affecting the human health.