Abstract
Viral infections are an important cause of death worldwide. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of antiviral drugs or vaccines for a large number of viruses, and this represents a remarkable challenge particularly for emerging and re-emerging viruses. For this reason, the identification of broad spectrum antiviral compounds provides a valuable opportunity for developing efficient antiviral therapies. Here we report on a class of rhodanine and thiobarbituric derivatives displaying a broad spectrum antiviral activity against seven different enveloped viruses including an HSV-2 acyclovir resistant strain with favorable selectivity indexes. Due to their selective action on enveloped viruses and to their lipid oxidation ability, we hypothesize a mechanism on the viral envelope that affects the fluidity of the lipid bilayer, thus compromising the efficiency of virus-cell fusion and preventing viral entry.
Highlights
IntroductionEffective antiviral strategies have been successfully developed for some important pathogens such as HIV and HCV, antiviral drugs or vaccines are still missing for the majority of viruses
Viral infections are one of the ten leading causes of death worldwide [1]
A particular interest is addressed to the recent epidemics of Ebola in Africa and Zika (ZIKV) in South America, for which, despite the huge effort to find antivirals, the research community was not able to execute in time an efficient antiviral plan
Summary
Effective antiviral strategies have been successfully developed for some important pathogens such as HIV and HCV, antiviral drugs or vaccines are still missing for the majority of viruses. No effective antiviral strategies are yet available for viruses causing chronic infections such as HBV [2], as well as for tropical viruses like dengue virus that is causing 390 million infections per year [3]. A particular interest is addressed to the recent epidemics of Ebola in Africa and Zika (ZIKV) in South America, for which, despite the huge effort to find antivirals, the research community was not able to execute in time an efficient antiviral plan. The majority of emerging or re-emerging viruses are zoonoses, and it has been demonstrated that the passage among different species is easier for enveloped viruses in comparison.
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