Development and characterization of two porcine monocyte-derived macrophage cell lines.

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a serious disease affecting pigs, causing them to become very sick or even die. This illness has been spreading in Asia and Europe since it was first seen on the African continent over two decades ago. Unfortunately, there's no cure for ASF yet, which makes prevention crucial because once a farm is infected, all pigs can get sick quickly with almost 100% mortality rate. Researchers have been working hard to find ways to protect our swine friends from this deadly virus and recently made some promising discoveries using laboratory tests on cells that are similar to those in the body of a pig, called Vero cells. They tested different substances (compounds) for their ability to stop ASFV's spread by reducing how much it grows or even killing the virus itself without harming the test cells too much themselves. Two special compounds stood out from this research as potential helpers in fighting off ASF, and one of them is called tetrandrine.

This research paper presents the discovery of novel compounds with potential antiviral activity against the highly infectious African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), which causes devastating outbreaks in domestic pigs and wild boars, leading to near-total mortality rates. The study's methodology involved high throughput screening of compounds using Vero cells as a model system for ASF virus replication. Positive hits from this initial screen were subjected to further characterization via dose-dependent assays and various time-of-addition, removal experiments aimed at understanding the mechanisms by which these compounds exert their antiviral effects. Two lead compounds emerged as particularly promising candidates: tetrandrine (TET) and another unnamed molecule with potent anti-viral activity against ASFV, primarily through disrupting viral entry mechanisms into host cells.