Therapeutic Targets for Influenza - Perspectives in Drug Development

Since new and dangerous influenza virus strains, such as H5N1 "avian flu" and more recently the swine-origin H1N1 "swine flu", are constantly evolving, the need for effective anti-influenza drugs is pressing. It is becoming clear that the emergence of drug-resistant viruses will...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Collection of Czechoslovak Chemical Communications
Main Authors: Majerová, T. (Taťána), Hoffman, H., Majer, F.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc2009087
http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0192850
Description
Summary:Since new and dangerous influenza virus strains, such as H5N1 "avian flu" and more recently the swine-origin H1N1 "swine flu", are constantly evolving, the need for effective anti-influenza drugs is pressing. It is becoming clear that the emergence of drug-resistant viruses will be a major potential problem in future efforts to control influenza virus infection. Moreover, development of vaccines against new influenza strains takes several months, and their production capacity is limited. Thus, new classes of anti-influenza drugs are highly sought after. This review focuses mainly on novel strategies, including targeting viral entry into host cells, inhibition of viral transcription and genome replication, and targeting of the NS1 influenza protein. Another approach involves viral RNA silencing by siRNAs or by antisense oligonucleotides.