Heparin prevents Zika virus induced-cytopathic effects in human neural progenitor cells

- Recent outbreak of Zika virus in Brazil included widespread neurological effects.
- One approach to tackling emerging infection is to re-purpose existing pharmaceuticals.
- The anticoagulant, heparin, inhibits infection weakly, but completely prevents cell death.

The recent Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak, which mainly affected Brazil and neighbouring states, demonstrated the paucity of information concerning the epidemiology of several flaviruses, but also highlighted the lack of available agents with which to treat such emerging diseases. Here, we show that heparin, a widely used anticoagulant, while exerting a modest inhibitory effect on Zika Virus replication, fully prevents virus-induced cell death of human neural progenitor cells (NPCs).