Novel Antiviral Compounds to Treat Enterovirus Infections

Researchers in UCLA Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology have used a rapid, live virus assay to develop potent enterovirus inhibitors.

Human enteroviruses (EVs) are a genus of more than 110 serologically distinct, small, non-enveloped RNA viruses responsible for poliomyelitis (viral infection of the nerves), encephalitis (viral infection of the brain), acute heart failure, meningitis, and other life-threatening infections. Enteroviruses cause 10 to 15 million infections and tens of thousands of hospitalizations in the US each year. While immunization has curtailed circulation of the polioviruses in most of the world, other EVs (e.g. coxsackieviruses, echoviruses, and numbered EVs) continue to cause substantial morbidity and mortality with no effective medications to treat them. Successful development of antiviral therapeutics against large numbers of medically relevant enteroviruses could save many lives and reduce healthcare costs and burdens associated with viral infections.

Researchers in UCLA’s Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology and Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry have used a rapid, live virus assay to help design and test potent enterovirus inhibitors. The compounds are unlike any previously described inhibitors of EV replication, and exhibit very potent activity against coxsackievirus B. Using these novel analogues, the researchers designed and synthesized several EV growth inhibitors that exhibit more potent activity and broader spectrum of activity than currently available therapeutics. The antiviral agents can be altered and expanded to other members of picornavirus family, or other viruses with similar replication strategies. These antiviral agent derivatives could become the basis for development of medications to combat different classes of viral infections.