Viruses 2018, 10(8), 423; https://doi.org/10.3390/v10080423
A Systems Approach to Study Immuno- and Neuro-Modulatory Properties of Antiviral Agents
Eva Zusinaite 1, Aleksandr Ianevski 2, Diana Niukkanen 1, Minna M. Poranen 3, Magnar Bjørås 2,4, Jan Egil Afset 2, Tanel Tenson 1, Vidya Velagapudi 5, Andres Merits 1 and Denis E. Kainov 1,2,*
1
Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, 50090 Tartu, Estonia
2
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7028 Trondheim, Norway
3
Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
4
Department of Microbiology, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, 0372 Oslo, Norway
5
Institute Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 26 July 2018 / Revised: 10 August 2018 / Accepted: 11 August 2018 / Published: 12 August 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Viruses and Cellular Metabolism)
Abstract
There are dozens of approved, investigational and experimental antiviral agents. Many of these agents cause serious side effects, which can only be revealed after drug administration. Identification of the side effects prior to drug administration is challenging. Here we describe an ex vivo approach for studying immuno- and neuro-modulatory properties of antiviral agents, which may be associated with potential side effects of these therapeutics. The current approach combines drug toxicity/efficacy tests and transcriptomics, which is followed by mRNA, cytokine and metabolite profiling. We demonstrated the utility of this approach with several examples of antiviral agents. We also showed that the approach can utilize different immune stimuli and cell types. It can also include other omics techniques, such as genomics and epigenomics, to allow identification of individual markers associated with adverse reactions to antivirals with immuno- and neuro-modulatory properties. View Full-TextKeywords:
virus; antiviral agent; drug target; drug side effect; innate immunity; precision medicine; systems biology
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Zusinaite, E.; Ianevski, A.; Niukkanen, D.; Poranen, M.M.; Bjørås, M.; Afset, J.E.; Tenson, T.; Velagapudi, V.; Merits, A.; Kainov, D.E. A Systems Approach to Study Immuno- and Neuro-Modulatory Properties of Antiviral Agents. Viruses 2018, 10, 423.
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