Introduction:

Dengue virus, transmitted by Aedes specie mosquitos, has re-emerged in the last years causing the arthropod-borne disease with higher prevalence in humans, to which there is no specific antiviral therapy or vaccine for its treatment and prevention. This has motivated the search for natural-based products with antiviral activity, which implies the need to establish an evaluation system of natural and synthetic products through a rapid in vitro screening methodology.

Objective:

To propose a primary screening cell-based antiviral activity system against dengue virus.

Methods:

Papers published in national and international journals indexed in SciELO or PubMed were used as primary sources of information. The examples selected in the figures and table were retrieved from the joint publications of the Virology Group of the School of Biology of the University of Havana and the Arbovirus Laboratory of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Pedro Kourí.

Information, Analysis and Synthesis:

The main cell-based methodologies are presented, with emphasis on those assumed by our research group (evaluation of cytotoxicity and the primary antiviral activity assay). The algorithm for product evaluation is presented. The methodology described has allowed initiating a search program for antidengue drugs, taking into account the criteria for evaluating antiviral efficacy and toxicity, in order to carry out a subsequent study on the mechanisms of action of the different compounds or products evaluated.

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