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Molecules
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Progress and Perspective of Antiviral Agents
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Progress and Perspective of Antiviral Agents

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2023) | Viewed by 2907

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Bin Huang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
Interests: natural products; structure-activity relationship
Prof. Dr. Yaqiu Long

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
Interests: antiviral drugs; antitumor drugs; targeting
Dr. Haiyan Zhu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Interests: antiviral drugs; herb

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

By hijacking the cellular processes of the host, viruses infect, replicate, and cause great damage. Viruses spread rapidly and mercilessly, and in some cases, show high mortality rates due to the lack of effective treatments. These make viral infections one of the largest threats to global health, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and the current global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Antiviral agents are drugs that inhibit the spread of virus, for example by preventing replication of the genome, blocking entry to host cells, or inhibiting viral protein synthesis or viral assembly.

This Special Issue will focus on the latest developments and discovery in antiviral agents (small molecules or macromolecules). Original research articles, letters, perspectives, and reviews on the discovery, mechanistic characterization, and validation of novel antiviral agents are all welcome. Developing the novel synthesis and processes for antiviral agents is also encouraged.

Dr. Bin Huang
Prof. Dr. Yaqiu Long
Dr. Haiyan Zhu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2878 KiB  
Article
Suppressing Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Lytic Gene Expression and Replication by RNase P Ribozyme
by Yujun Liu, Yuan-Chuan Chen, Bin Yan and Fenyong Liu
Molecules 2023, 28(8), 3619; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28083619 - 21 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1241
Abstract
Kaposi’s sarcoma, an AIDS-defining illness, is caused by Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), an oncogenic virus. In this study, we engineered ribozymes derived from ribonuclease P (RNase P) catalytic RNA with targeting against the mRNA encoding KSHV immediate early replication and transcription activator (RTA), [...] Read more.
Kaposi’s sarcoma, an AIDS-defining illness, is caused by Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), an oncogenic virus. In this study, we engineered ribozymes derived from ribonuclease P (RNase P) catalytic RNA with targeting against the mRNA encoding KSHV immediate early replication and transcription activator (RTA), which is vital for KSHV gene expression. The functional ribozyme F-RTA efficiently sliced the RTA mRNA sequence in vitro. In cells, KSHV production was suppressed with ribozyme F-RTA expression by 250-fold, and RTA expression was suppressed by 92–94%. In contrast, expression of control ribozymes hardly affected RTA expression or viral production. Further studies revealed both overall KSHV early and late gene expression and viral growth decreased because of F-RTA-facilitated suppression of RTA expression. Our results indicate the first instance of RNase P ribozymes having potential for use in anti-KSHV therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress and Perspective of Antiviral Agents)
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19 pages, 14226 KiB  
Article
Anti-BVDV Activity of Traditional Chinese Medicine Monomers Targeting NS5B (RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase) In Vitro and In Vivo
by Nannan Chen, Dongjun Jiang, Baihui Shao, Tongtong Bai, Jinwei Chen, Yu Liu, Zecai Zhang, Yulong Zhou, Xue Wang and Zhanbo Zhu
Molecules 2023, 28(8), 3413; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28083413 - 12 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1347
Abstract
Natural products have emerged as “rising stars” for treating viral diseases and useful chemical scaffolds for developing effective therapeutic agents. The nonstructural protein NS5B (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) of NADL strain BVDV was used as the action target based on a molecular docking technique [...] Read more.
Natural products have emerged as “rising stars” for treating viral diseases and useful chemical scaffolds for developing effective therapeutic agents. The nonstructural protein NS5B (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) of NADL strain BVDV was used as the action target based on a molecular docking technique to screen herbal monomers for anti-BVDV viral activity. The in vivo and in vitro anti-BVDV virus activity studies screened the Chinese herbal monomers with significant anti-BVDV virus effects, and their antiviral mechanisms were initially explored. The molecular docking screening showed that daidzein, curcumin, artemisinine, and apigenin could interact with BVDV-NADL-NS5B with the best binding energy fraction. In vitro and in vivo tests demonstrated that none of the four herbal monomers significantly affected MDBK cell activity. Daidzein and apigenin affected BVDV virus replication mainly in the attachment and internalization phases, artemisinine mainly in the replication phase, and curcumin was active in the attachment, internalization, replication, and release phases. In vivo tests demonstrated that daidzein was the most effective in preventing and protecting BALB/C mice from BVDV infection, and artemisinine was the most effective in treating BVDV infection. This study lays the foundation for developing targeted Chinese pharmaceutical formulations against the BVDV virus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress and Perspective of Antiviral Agents)
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