Antiviral Potential of Natural Resources against Influenza Virus Infections

Abstract

Influenza is a severe contagious disease caused by influenza A and B viruses. The WHO estimates that annual outbreaks lead to 3–5 million severe infections of which approximately 10% lead to the death of the patient. While vaccination is the cornerstone of prevention, antiviral drugs represent the most important treatment option of acute infections. Only two classes of drugs are currently approved for the treatment of influenza in numerous countries: M2 channel blockers and neuraminidase inhibitors. In some countries, additional compounds such as the recently developed cap-dependent endonuclease inhibitor baloxavir marboxil or the polymerase inhibitor favipiravir are available. However, many of these compounds suffer from poor efficacy, if not applied early after infection. Furthermore, many influenza strains have developed resistances and lost susceptibility to these compounds. As a result, there is an urgent need to develop new anti-influenza drugs against a broad spectrum of subtypes. Natural products have made an important contribution to the development of new lead structures, particularly in the field of infectious diseases. Therefore, this article aims to review the research on the identification of novel lead structures isolated from natural resources suitable to treat influenza infections.

Functional Profiling of the A-Family of Venom Peptides from the Wolf Spider Lycosa shansia

“…Some linear venom peptides are capable of exerting antiviral activity, including activities against influenza viruses [ 25 , 26 , 27 ]. Given that the A-family peptides showed no toxicity toward MDCK II cells, we infected these cells with influenza viruses (H1N1, H3N2 or B-Malaysia (B-Mal)) and determined whether or not the A-family peptides possess antiviral activity.…”

Vaccination for seasonal influenza, pneumococcal infection and SARS-CoV-2 in patients with solid tumors: recommendations of the Associazione Italiana di Oncologia Medica (AIOM)

“…Antiviral therapy should be started as soon as possible (within 48 hours), because there is no evidence of benefit to start beyond 5 days after the onset of illness [ 23 , 25 ]. Oseltamivir is the initial therapeutic choice; it is administered orally at a dose of 75mg twice daily for at least 5 days [ 23 ].…”

Targeting the Human Influenza a Virus: The Methods, Limitations, and Pitfalls of Virtual Screening for Drug-like Candidates Including Scaffold Hopping and Compound Profiling

“…The search for new candidate drugs through VS can be carried out with in-house molecular databases or public virtual chemical libraries, both of which may store large amounts of molecules and biological metainformation [ 31 ]. Alternatively, researchers took a closer look at natural sources for agents against the flu [ 32 ]. Here, a commercial substance library with a total of 660,961 chemicals was screened [ 18 ].…”