The invention provides application of 7, 8-dihydroxyflavone in preparation of a
medicine for treating diseases caused by
herpes virus infection, and belongs to the technical field of biological
medicine. The 7, 8-dihydroxy flavone can be used for remarkably inhibiting infection of herpes simplex viruses HSV-1 and HSV-2, and has broad-spectrum anti-HSV activity. According to the present invention, the HSV
virus protein expression can be significantly inhibited by pretreating the
virus with the 1, 7, 8-dihydroxyflavone and treating the cells after the
virus adsorption, the virus plaque formation can be reduced, and the
dose dependence can be provided; experiments show that the 7, 8-dihydroxyflavone plays the anti-
herpes simplex virus activity mainly through targeting
host protein fructose-diphosphate aldolase A. The 7, 8-dihydroxyflavone has the anti-
herpes simplex virus activity. Mouse in-vivo experiments prove that the 7, 8-dihydroxyflavone can significantly improve the
survival rate of HSV-1 mice, improve the weight reduction trend and reduce the virus
titer of
lung tissues; meanwhile, mouse genital organ lesions caused by HSV-2 infection can be remarkably relieved, and the weight of infected mice is improved. Therefore, the compound 7, 8-dihydroxyflavone is expected to be developed into a candidate
drug for treating the
herpes simplex virus.