Corrigendum to “Verteporfin is an effective inhibitor of HCMV replication” [Virus Research (2024) 1–5/199475] (Virus Research (2024) 350, (S0168170224001680), (10.1016/j.virusres.2024.199475))

The authors regret that the statement in the original article: “While screening various FDA-approved drugs for their potential anti-HCMV activity, the Eichler group suggested that verteporfin might negatively regulate HCMV replication by inhibiting the HCMV core nuclear egress complex, specifically by disrupting the interaction between the HCMV pUL50 and pUL53 proteins (Alkhashrom et al., 2021). Nuclear egress is a crucial process that enables the migration of newly formed viral capsids from the nucleus to the cytoplasm during the late stages of virus replication (Marschall et al., 2017). However, they were unable to provide experimental evidence. Additionally, their proposed mechanism of HCMV inhibition by verteporfin (inhibition of viral protein interactions at late stages) differs significantly from the mechanism we demonstrated experimentally in this study (inhibition of viral gene expression from the immediate early stages).” was inaccurate. The correct statement should read: "While screening various FDA-approved drugs for their potential anti-HCMV activity, the Eichler group identified verteporfin as an inhibitor of the interaction between the HCMV pUL50 and pUL53 proteins, components of the core nuclear egress complex (Alkhashrom et al., 2021). Nuclear egress is a crucial process that enables the migration of newly formed viral capsids from the nucleus to the cytoplasm during the late stages of virus replication (Marschall et al., 2017). However, they did not report experimental evidence linking this inhibition to a direct antiviral effect of verteporfin on HCMV replication. Additionally, their findings on the inhibition of the pUL50-pUL53 interaction by verteporfin does not align with the mechanism we demonstrated in this study (inhibition of viral gene expression from the immediate early stages).” The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.