Gbadebo OS, Oke ED. Therapeutic potential of marine natural products against dengue virus. World J Meta-Anal 2025; 13(3): 111111 [DOI: 10.13105/wjma.v13.i3.111111]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ololade S Gbadebo, Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Rhode Island, 7 Greenhouse Road, Kingston, RI 02881, United States. ololadegbadebo@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Meta-Anal. Sep 18, 2025; 13(3): 111111 Published online Sep 18, 2025. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v13.i3.111111
Therapeutic potential of marine natural products against dengue virus
Ololade S Gbadebo, Elizabeth D Oke
Ololade S Gbadebo, Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, United States
Elizabeth D Oke, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA 99208, United States
Author contributions: Gbadebo OS conceptualized the study; Gbadebo OS and Oke ED wrote and edited the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no competing interests.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ololade S Gbadebo, Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Rhode Island, 7 Greenhouse Road, Kingston, RI 02881, United States. ololadegbadebo@gmail.com
Received: June 24, 2025 Revised: July 10, 2025 Accepted: August 25, 2025 Published online: September 18, 2025 Processing time: 79 Days and 1.5 Hours
Abstract
The causative agent for dengue is dengue virus (DENV), with humans and mosquitoes serving as vectors. The DENV (family = Flaviviridae) is a positive-stranded RNA virus with four serotypes, DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4. As of 2023, the disease had been reported in 80 countries with over 6.5 million cases and 7300 mortalities since then. Despite the concerning incidence and prevalence of this disease, less attention is given to the development of therapeutic remedies and preventive alternatives. The search for new antiviral bioactive compounds is therefore important and urgent. Marine organisms have been a source of diverse bioactive natural products. The large marine biodiversity and the structural diversity of their specialized metabolites provide an explorative opportunity for the discovery of novel antiviral specialized metabolites. Reported marine natural products with anti-DENV activities include fucoidan, scequinadoline A, indole derivatives, and others. Nevertheless, marine organisms are still largely underexplored as sources of antiviral drugs. With advances in metabolomics and computational screening, we may discover additional marine natural products to help with dengue treatment.
Core Tip: The dengue disease, caused by the dengue virus, is mosquito-borne. Recent epidemiological studies of this highly contagious disease revealed its increasing incidence and mortality rates. Despite these concerns, approved therapeutic and prophylactic measures are still lacking. The ocean houses organisms that are prolific producers of specialized metabolites with pharmacological importance. Marine natural products have potential as drug molecules with anti-dengue virus activity.
