| Literature DB >> 33726557 |
Shamaila Kausar1, Fahad Said Khan2, Muhammad Ishaq Mujeeb Ur Rehman2, Muhammad Akram2, Muhammad Riaz3, Ghulam Rasool3, Abdul Hamid Khan4, Iqra Saleem5, Saba Shamim1, Arif Malik1.
Abstract
Antiviral drugs are a class of medicines particularly used for the treatment of viral infections. Drugs that combat viral infections are called antiviral drugs. Viruses are among the major pathogenic agents that cause number of serious diseases in humans, animals and plants. Viruses cause many diseases in humans, from self resolving diseases to acute fatal diseases. Developing strategies for the antiviral drugs are focused on two different approaches: Targeting the viruses themselves or the host cell factors. Antiviral drugs that directly target the viruses include the inhibitors of virus attachment, inhibitors of virus entry, uncoating inhibitors, polymerase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, inhibitors of nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase and the inhibitors of integrase. The inhibitors of protease (ritonavir, atazanavir and darunavir), viral DNA polymerase (acyclovir, tenofovir, valganciclovir and valacyclovir) and of integrase (raltegravir) are listed among the Top 200 Drugs by sales during 2010s. Still no effective antiviral drugs are available for many viral infections. Though, there are a couple of drugs for herpesviruses, many for influenza and some new antiviral drugs for treating hepatitis C infection and HIV. Action mechanism of antiviral drugs consists of its transformation to triphosphate following the viral DNA synthesis inhibition. An analysis of the action mechanism of known antiviral drugs concluded that they can increase the cell's resistance to a virus (interferons), suppress the virus adsorption in the cell or its diffusion into the cell and its deproteinisation process in the cell (amantadine) along with antimetabolites that causes the inhibition of nucleic acids synthesis. This review will address currently used antiviral drugs, mechanism of action and antiviral agents reported against COVID-19.Entities:
Keywords: antiviral drugs; integrase inhibitors; mechanism of action; nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors; protease inhibitors; viral infections
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Substances:
Year: 2021 PMID: 33726557 PMCID: PMC7975490 DOI: 10.1177/20587384211002621
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol ISSN: 0394-6320 Impact factor: 3.298
Figure 1.Common inhibitory actions of antiviral drugs.
Mechanism of action of antiviral drugs used for the treatment of COVID-19.
| Group | Drugs | Mechanism of action |
|---|---|---|
| Viral RNA polymerase inhibitors | Remdesivir (GS-5734) | RdRp inhibitor, prodrug, analogue of adenosine nucleotide |
| Favipiravir | RdRp inhibitor, prodrug, analogue of guanosine nucleotide | |
| Viral protein synthesis inhibitors | Ritonavir/Lopinavir | Inhibitor of protease |
| Inhibitors of viral entry | Hydroxychloroquine | Increase in endosomal pH needed for the virus/cell fusion. Interfere with cellular receptor glycosilation of SARS CoV (ACE-2) |
| Chloroquine | ||
| Immunomodulators | Nitazoxanide | Interfere with host regulated pathways of virus replication, amplification of type 1 IFN pathways and cytoplasmic RNA sensing |
| Ivermectin | Inhibition of importin 1 heterodimer to inhibit the nuclear import of host and viral proteins |
Figure 2.Possible mechanism of Remdisivir against SARS-CoV-2 at molecular level. (a) Diagram shows the entry of SARS-CoV-2 virus and the synthesis of its RNA that can be blocked by Remdisivir. (b) Molecular mechanism of viral RNA synthesis inhibition by Remdisivir.[30]