Natural Products-Derived Chemicals: Breaking Barriers to Novel Anti-HSV Drug Development

Abstract

Recently, the problem of viral infection, particularly the infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2), has dramatically increased and caused a significant challenge to public health due to the rising problem of drug resistance. The antiherpetic drug resistance crisis has been attributed to the overuse of these medications, as well as the lack of new drug development by the pharmaceutical industry due to reduced economic inducements and challenging regulatory requirements. Therefore, the development of novel antiviral drugs against HSV infections would be a step forward in improving global combat against these infections. The incorporation of biologically active natural products into anti-HSV drug development at the clinical level has gained limited attention to date. Thus, the search for new drugs from natural products that could enter clinical practice with lessened resistance, less undesirable effects, and various mechanisms of action is greatly needed to break the barriers to novel antiherpetic drug development, which, in turn, will pave the road towards the efficient and safe treatment of HSV infections. In this review, we aim to provide an up-to-date overview of the recent advances in natural antiherpetic agents. Additionally, this paper covers a large scale of phenolic compounds, alkaloids, terpenoids, polysaccharides, peptides, and other miscellaneous compounds derived from various sources of natural origin (plants, marine organisms, microbial sources, lichen species, insects, and mushrooms) with promising activities against HSV infections; these are in vitro and in vivo studies. This work also highlights bioactive natural products that could be used as templates for the further development of anti-HSV drugs at both animal and clinical levels, along with the potential mechanisms by which these compounds induce anti-HSV properties. Future insights into the development of these molecules as safe and effective natural anti-HSV drugs are also debated.

Shedding Light on the Effect of Natural Anti-Herpesvirus Alkaloids on SARS-CoV-2: A Treatment Option for COVID-19

“…Notably, the comprehensive review article that has been published in the journal Viruses (Special Issue "Recent Advances in Herpesviruses Research: What's in the Pipeline?") by Treml et al [20] documented a large number of natural bioactive molecules and macromolecules with anti-herpes simplex virus properties along with their mechanisms of action. Although this paper has focused on the bioactivity against herpes simplex viruses, we cannot rule out that the reviewed natural products might have additional antiviral effects on various types of coronavirus, including SARS-CoV-2.…”

Brassicasterol with Dual Anti-Infective Properties against HSV-1 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Cardiovascular Protective Effect: Nonclinical In Vitro and In Silico Assessments

“…Therefore, the obtained results by this research could be rationalized with other studies in which various natural products have shown in various preclinical investigations the capability of inducing excellent anti-HSV activities with diverse mechanisms of action that could break barriers to novel anti-HSV drug development. This has been documented in a recent review article in which a large number of natural biomolecules extracted from various natural sources with outstanding activities against HSV infections were comprehensively reviewed [28].…”

Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, and Cytotoxic Activities of Juglans regia L. Pellicle Extract

“…The main UPLC-Ms/Ms-identified molecules and their relative pharmacological activities are reported in Table 5. Antiviral [31,32] Antibacterial [33] Antifungal [34] Antioxidant [24] Antitumor [30] Myricetin Flavonoids Antibacterial [41] Antiviral [31,32,42] Antifungal [34] Antioxidant [24] Antitumor [30] Notes: * RT: retention time; n.r. : not reported.…”