Herpesviridae and novel inhibitors

Abstract

Herpesviridae comprises a large family of double-stranded DNA viruses that infect both animals and humans. Eight herpesviruses are known to infect humans: herpes simplex virus type-1 and -2, varicella zoster virus, human cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, human herpesvirus 6 type-A and -B, human herpesvirus type-7 and -8 or Kaposi's sarcoma virus. Despite the fact that the past two decades have been evolutionary in the development of antiviral agents, therapeutic choices are restricted by limited efficacy and toxicity. Viral infections remain the cause of significant mortality worldwide, thus indicating the high medical need for the introduction of novel promising compounds in the antiviral chemotherapy era. This review focuses on recent data regarding several novel groups of agents that have proved to be effective as antiherpetic drugs. The agents mentioned are those considered to be the most likely candidates for entering clinical trials and those in the process of being granted approval by the US Food and Drug Administration. The diversity in their molecular mechanism of action highlights the different perspectives currently encountered in the era of antiviral therapy.

Luteolin inhibits Epstein-Barr virus lytic reactivation by repressing the promoter activities of immediate-early genes

“…We showed that luteolin could inhibit the expression of viral lytic proteins (Figures 2 and 3) Although EBV has been reported to be closely associated with many human diseases, including cancers, the development of anti-EBV therapies has been insignificant compared to that for HIV infections. In the past, some compounds against other herpesviruses have been tested against EBV (Siakallis et al, 2009). They may be divided into two major categories, those that interfere with virus-encoded enzymes important for virus production and those that interfere with cellular process required for virus production.…”

The Varicella-Zoster virus IE4 protein: A conserved member of the herpesviral mRNA export factors family and a potential alternative target in antiherpetic therapies

“…However, over the past few years, the long-term usage of these antiviral agents led to the emergence of nucleoside-analogue-resistant herpesvirus strains, resulting in ineffective conventional therapies (reviewed in Ref. [61]). Additional antiherpetic treatments, such as various antisense-mediated strategies, are therefore under development, in order to specifically knockdown expression of some viral proteins.…”

Synthesis, analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of novel mannich bases of benzimidazoles

“…Benzimidazole derivatives possess a wide range of pharmacological actions such as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, anthelmintics, anti-neoplastic, antifungal, antiviral, anti-histaminic and anti-diabetic (Mohamed et al 2006;Sondhi et al 2006;Achar et al 2010;Narasimhan et al 2012;Gao et al 2007;Siakallis et al 2009). …”