BACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a global health threat with approximately 200 million carriers worldwide. Current treatment consists of the use of peginterferon (pegIFN)/ribavirin (RBV) for 24 or 48 weeks depending on HCV genotype. Serious side effects and the fact that less than half of patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4 (which are the most common) accomplish sustained virological response with this medication warrant the need for novel anti-HCV therapies. OBJECTIVE: Description of specifically targeted antiviral therapies for hepatitis C (STAT-C) designed to inhibit the serine protease and the RNA-dependent HCV-RNA polymerase. METHODS: Review of available data reported in peer-reviewed journals and medical conferences. RESULTS/ CONCLUSIONS: Early preclinical studies using these compounds produced encouraging results, but the initial enthusiasm has been hampered by toxicity issues and rapid selection of resistance. Therefore, combination therapy with a backbone of pegIFN/RBV, or perhaps in the future using several of these small molecules, preferably having distinct modes of action and resistance profiles, will be required.
BACKGROUND:Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a global health threat with approximately 200 million carriers worldwide. Current treatment consists of the use of peginterferon (pegIFN)/ribavirin (RBV) for 24 or 48 weeks depending on HCV genotype. Serious side effects and the fact that less than half of patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4 (which are the most common) accomplish sustained virological response with this medication warrant the need for novel anti-HCV therapies. OBJECTIVE: Description of specifically targeted antiviral therapies for hepatitis C (STAT-C) designed to inhibit the serine protease and the RNA-dependent HCV-RNA polymerase. METHODS: Review of available data reported in peer-reviewed journals and medical conferences. RESULTS/ CONCLUSIONS: Early preclinical studies using these compounds produced encouraging results, but the initial enthusiasm has been hampered by toxicity issues and rapid selection of resistance. Therefore, combination therapy with a backbone of pegIFN/RBV, or perhaps in the future using several of these small molecules, preferably having distinct modes of action and resistance profiles, will be required.
Authors: Jack T Nguyen; Justin D Hoopes; Donald F Smee; Mark N Prichard; Elizabeth M Driebe; David M Engelthaler; Minh H Le; Paul S Keim; R Paul Spence; Gregory T Went Journal: Antimicrob Agents Chemother Date: 2009-07-20 Impact factor: 5.191
Authors: Jose A Garcia-Rivera; Michael Bobardt; Udayan Chatterji; Sam Hopkins; Matthew A Gregory; Barrie Wilkinson; Kai Lin; Philippe A Gallay Journal: Antimicrob Agents Chemother Date: 2012-07-16 Impact factor: 5.191
Authors: Udayan Chatterji; Jose A Garcia-Rivera; James Baugh; Katarzyna Gawlik; Kelly A Wong; Weidong Zhong; Clifford A Brass; Nikolai V Naoumov; Philippe A Gallay Journal: Antimicrob Agents Chemother Date: 2014-03-31 Impact factor: 5.191
Authors: Sam Hopkins; Michael Bobardt; Udayan Chatterji; Jose A Garcia-Rivera; Precious Lim; Philippe A Gallay Journal: Antimicrob Agents Chemother Date: 2012-05-14 Impact factor: 5.191