Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Influenza viruses cause pandemics and annual epidemics which have serious consequences for public health and global economy. The severity of infections with influenza viruses can vary from asymptomatic to life-threatening viral pneumonias. Currently, four licensed anti-influenza drugs are available for the prevention and treatment of influenza virus infections. However, resistance to the licensed antivirals develops rapidly. Therefore, there is a need for next-generation antiviral agents to combat influenza virus infections. Recent advances in understanding influenza virus-host interactions have revealed a number of host targets for potential antiviral interventions. In particular, basic cellular functions, metabolic and biosynthesis pathways, as well as the signaling cascades could be modulated by small-molecule inhibitors to block virus infection. Moreover, temporal inhibition of these host functions will be less likely to induce viral drug resistance. In addition, many of the inhibitors of cellular functions are already approved or in clinical development for other diseases. Drug repurposing will facilitate their introduction for treatment of viral infections, since the pharmacokinetics and toxicity profile of these drugs are already known. In this work, a library of small-molecule inhibitors targeting host factors and potentially interfering with influenza virus infection was built and screened. Inhibitors of vacuolar proton-ATPase (v-ATPase), Akt kinase, ribonucleotide reductase and the anti-apoptotic B-cell lymphoma-2 family proteins showed antiviral activity in vitro. Saliphenylhalamide, an inhibitor of v-ATPase, was the most potent antiviral agent and it was effective against a broad range of influenza viruses and some other RNA viruses in vitro, and against a mouse adapted influenza strain in vivo. In order to overcome the low water solubility and high toxicity of saliphenylhalamide, bioavailability was optimized using a porous silicon particle-based delivery system for the putative clinical trials. The results presented in this study expand the understanding of influenza virus-host interactions, and provide a novel perspective for ways to adopt a rational approach in the discovery of new antiviral agents.
Source: Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja
Author: Oxana V. Denisova
Institution: Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1517014345