Abstract
Prevention and treatment of influenza virus infection is an ongoing unmet medical need. Each year, thousands of deaths and millions of hospitalizations are attributed to influenza virus infection, which poses a tremendous health and economic burden to the society. Aside from the annual influenza season, influenza viruses also lead to occasional influenza pandemics as a result of emerging or re-emerging influenza strains. Influenza viruses are RNA viruses that exist in quasispecies, meaning that they have a very diverse genetic background. Such a feature creates a grand challenge in devising therapeutic intervention strategies to inhibit influenza virus replication, as a single agent might not be able to inhibit all influenza virus strains. Both classes of currently approved anti-influenza drugs have limitations: the M2 channel blockers amantadine and rimantadine are no longer recommended for use in the U.S. due to predominant drug resistance, and resistance to the neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir is continuously on the rise. In pursuing the next generation of antiviral drugs with broad-spectrum activity and higher genetic barrier of drug resistance, the influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP) stands out as a high-profile drug target. This review summarizes recent developments in designing inhibitors targeting influenza NP and their mechanisms of action.
Keywords: Influenza virus, Nucleoprotein, Antivirals, Nucleozin, Antiviral drug resistance, RNA viruses.
Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry
Title:Influenza A Virus Nucleoprotein: A Highly Conserved Multi-Functional Viral Protein as a Hot Antiviral Drug Target
Volume: 17 Issue: 20
Author(s): Yanmei Hu, Hannah Sneyd, Raphael Dekant and Jun Wang*
Affiliation:
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ,United States
Keywords: Influenza virus, Nucleoprotein, Antivirals, Nucleozin, Antiviral drug resistance, RNA viruses.
Abstract: Prevention and treatment of influenza virus infection is an ongoing unmet medical need. Each year, thousands of deaths and millions of hospitalizations are attributed to influenza virus infection, which poses a tremendous health and economic burden to the society. Aside from the annual influenza season, influenza viruses also lead to occasional influenza pandemics as a result of emerging or re-emerging influenza strains. Influenza viruses are RNA viruses that exist in quasispecies, meaning that they have a very diverse genetic background. Such a feature creates a grand challenge in devising therapeutic intervention strategies to inhibit influenza virus replication, as a single agent might not be able to inhibit all influenza virus strains. Both classes of currently approved anti-influenza drugs have limitations: the M2 channel blockers amantadine and rimantadine are no longer recommended for use in the U.S. due to predominant drug resistance, and resistance to the neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir is continuously on the rise. In pursuing the next generation of antiviral drugs with broad-spectrum activity and higher genetic barrier of drug resistance, the influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP) stands out as a high-profile drug target. This review summarizes recent developments in designing inhibitors targeting influenza NP and their mechanisms of action.
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Cite this article as:
Hu Yanmei, Sneyd Hannah, Dekant Raphael and Wang Jun*, Influenza A Virus Nucleoprotein: A Highly Conserved Multi-Functional Viral Protein as a Hot Antiviral Drug Target, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 2017; 17 (20) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1568026617666170224122508
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1568026617666170224122508 |
Print ISSN 1568-0266 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 1873-4294 |
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