Herpes Virus Cleared from Cells BX795

From a completely accidental discovery: “BX795 is known as an inhibitor of TBK1, an enzyme involved in innate immunity and neuroinflammation. When TBK1 is suppressed in cells, infection is actually promoted. But when the researchers added higher concentrations of BX795 to cultured human corneal cells infected with HSV-1, the infection was quickly cleared.”

Citation: An off-target effect of BX795 blocks herpes simplex virus type 1 infection of the eye. Science Translational Medicine, 2018; 10 (428): eaan5861 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aan5861