ArticleThe Journal of experimental medicine2014
Antiviral drug ganciclovir is a potent inhibitor of microglial proliferation and neuroinflammation.
Article in The Journal of experimental medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06436534 (A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Single-center Clinical Trial of Ganciclovir Capsules in the Treatment of Refractory Moderate-to-severe Allergic Rhinitis), which is not on this map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Single-center Clinical Trial of Ganciclovir Capsules in the Treatment of Refractory Moderate-to-severe Allergic Rhinitis
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Repurposing Licensed Drugs with Activity Against Epstein-Barr Virus for Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Approach.CNS drugs · 2025Pooled it
- Limitations of the p16-3MR mouse model for detecting and eliminating senescent cells.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Tissue-Resident Macrophage-Derived E3 Ligase SMURF2 Restricts Autoimmune Inflammation by Mediating the Degradation of p-TBK1.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Brain-infiltrating CD4 T cells drive inflammatory microglia proliferation during cryptococcal meningitis in mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
- From Animal Models to Clinical Trials: The Potential of Antimicrobials in Multiple Sclerosis Treatment.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- The Role of Microglial Depletion Approaches in Pathological Condition of CNS.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2023Review
- EZH2-Myc driven glioblastoma elicited by cytomegalovirus infection of human astrocytes.Oncogene · 2023Article
- Acoustic Stress Induces Opposite Proliferative/Transformative Effects in Hippocampal Glia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Low-dose ganciclovir ameliorates dextran sulfate sodium-induced ulcerative colitis through inhibiting macrophage STING activation in mice.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Evolving Models and Tools for Microglial Studies in the Central Nervous System.Neuroscience bulletin · 2021Review
- Polymeric Nanovectors Incorporated with Ganciclovir and HSV-Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Ablating Adult Neural Stem Cells Improves Synaptic and Cognitive Functions in Alzheimer Models.Stem cell reports · 2021Article
- Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-δ Deficiency in Microglia Results in Exacerbated Axonal Injury and Tissue Loss in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Article
- Review
- To Kill a Microglia: A Case for CSF1R Inhibitors.Trends in immunology · 2020Review
- The combination of acyclovir and dexamethasone protects against Alzheimer's disease-related cognitive impairments in mice.Psychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Ablation of reactive astrocytes exacerbates disease pathology in a model of Alzheimer's disease.Glia · 2020Article
- Pathology of inflammatory diseases of the nervous system: Human disease versus animal models.Glia · 2020Review
- Dynamic Responses of Microglia in Animal Models of Multiple Sclerosis.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Aberrant microglial responses contribute to neuroinflammation in many neurodegenerative diseases, but no current therapies target pathogenic microglia. We discovered unexpectedly that the antiviral drug ganciclovir (GCV) inhibits the proliferation of microglia in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a mouse model for multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as in kainic acid-induced excitotoxicity. In EAE, GCV largely prevented infiltration of T lymphocytes into the central nervous system (CNS) and drastically reduced disease incidence and severity when delivered before the onset of disease. In contrast, GCV treatment had minimal effects on peripheral leukocyte distribution in EAE and did not inhibit generation of antibodies after immunization with ovalbumin. Additionally, a radiolabeled analogue of penciclovir, [(18)F]FHBG, which is similar in structure to GCV, was retained in areas of CNS inflammation in EAE, but not in naive control mice, consistent with the observed therapeutic effects. Our experiments suggest GCV may have beneficial effects in the CNS beyond its antiviral properties.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.