An in silico-designed flavone derivative, 6-fluoro-4′-hydroxy-3′,5′-dimetoxyflavone, has a greater anti-human cytomegalovirus effect than ganciclovir in infected cells

A novel type of antiviral agent for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is required, because the appearance of ganciclovir (GCV) resistant viruses has been reported. Tricin (4′,5,7-trihydroxy-3′,5′-dimethoxyflavone) has been shown to suppress significantly HCMV replication in human embryonic lung (HEL) fibroblast cells. Recently, we revealed that the action of tricin is different from that of GCV and cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) is one of the...