Capsid-Targeting Antivirals and Host Factors
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Viral Immunology, Vaccines, and Antivirals".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 57665
Special Issue Editor
Interests: viral replication and entry; antivirals; capsid protein; HIV
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
While the vast majority of drugs used in the treatment of viral infections target enzymes, there is a remarkable dearth of antivirals that target capsids, despite their indispensable role in the life cycle of viruses.
Viral capsids do much more than forming a protective barrier that encloses viral genomes in a protein shell; they engage in distinct protein interactions at different times of the virus life cycle, thus affecting diverse biological processes. Depending on the type of virus, these may include virus nucleic acid synthesis, interactions with microtubules for transport to the nucleus, cloaking of the viral nucleic acid for evasion of innate immunity sensors, interactions with proteins of the nuclear pore complex to facilitate nuclear entry, and influencing the site of integration into host genomes. Uncoating of capsids is precisely choreographed and temporally controlled in a manner that makes it susceptible to pharmacological agents that affect the capsid stability. Other opportunities for intervention include disruption of interactions with host factors or the process of capsid assembly from individual proteins. This Special Issue will cover recent developments in targeting viral capsids as a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of viral infections.
Prof. Dr. Stefan G. SarafianosGuest Editor
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Keywords
- capsid
- HIV
- HBV
- antiviral
- nucleocapsid
- assembly
- uncoating
- disassembly
- “capsid stability”
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