Coronaviruses

SF S26 S26.009 Signalase (eukaryote) 18 kDa component Potential drug target to suppress human coronavirus replication... 

Anand K, Ziebuhr J, Wadhwani P, Masters JR, Hilgenfeld R (2003). Coronavirus main proteinase (3CLpro) structure basis for design of anti-SARS drugs. Science (New York, N.Y 300 1763-1767... 

A new coronavirus was quickly identified after the outbreak of an atypical pneumonia in southern China early in 2003. The new virus eventually caused 8,000 infections with approximately 800 deaths in 29 countries. The condition was named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, SARS, and the causative coronavirus named SARS-CoV. The zoonotic nature of the infection came with the identification of a similar virus in bats (Poon et al. 2005), although it is possible that the bat virus passed through other animal hosts and recombined with other SARS-like coron-aviruses prior to infecting humans (Hon et al. 2008). SARS-CoV is not currently circulating in the human population however, the mysterious appearance and rapid spread of this virus emphasized how vulnerable the human population is to such respiratory infections. This has spurred interest in the development of antivirals that could be used either in treatment or as prophylaxis to complement public health measures in curbing future outbreaks. 

Lee TW, Chemey MM, Huitema C, Liu J, James KE, Powers JC, Eltis LD, James MN (2005) Crystal structures of the main peptidase from the SARS coronavirus inhibited by a substrate-fike aza-peptide epoxide. J Mol Biol 353 1137-1151 Liang PH (2006) Characterization and inhibition of SARS-coronavirus main protease. Curr Top Med Chem 6 361-376... 

SARS-CoV Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus... 

Since the pioneering work of Kleymann et al. (2002), Betz et al. (2002), Baumeister et al. (2007), and Crute et al. (2002), who showed that compounds identified as inhibitors of the helicase-primase enzyme complex could alleviate herpesvirus-induced disease in animal models, the attention of researchers developing antiviral compounds has been drawn more and more towards the virus-encoded helicases, particularly those of Herpes viruses and of RNA viruses such as Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and SAKS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Enzyme activity is usually assayed by measuring NTPase activity in the presence of an appropriate nucleic acid co-substrate although, more recently, novel fiuorimetric and luminescence principles have been applied to the measurement of strand unwinding and/or translocation of the protein along the nucleic acid (Frick 2003, 2006). 

Helicase has also been a focal point for the development of antiviral chemotherapy of the coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in humans. Although several experimental compounds with nucleic acid binding activity showing effective inhibition of SARS-CoV helicase were reported in 2005, there have been no reports of any further development since that time (Kesel 2005). It remains to be seen whether the S ARS-CoV compounds will be developed further, especially since no new infections have been observed in recent years. 

Coronavirus IFN-P more protective than IFN-a Synergistic effect of IFN-a and IFN-p Sainz et al. 2004 Scagnolari et al. 2004... 

Sainz B Ir, Mossel EC, Peters CJ, Garry RF (2004) Interferon-beta and interferon-gamma syner-gistically inhibit the replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Virology 329 11-17... 

Burke DH, Scales L, Andrews K, Gold L (1996) Bent pseudoknots and novel RNA inhibitors of type 1 human immunodeficiency virus (HlV-1) reverse transcriptase. J Mol Biol 264 650-666 Burrer R, Neuman BW, Ting JP, Stein DA, Moulton HM, Iversen PL, Kuhn P, Buchmeier MJ (2007) Antiviral effects of antisense morphoUno oligomers in murine coronavirus infection models, J Virol 81 5637-5648... 

Lu A, Zhang H, Zhang X, Wang H, Hu Q, Shen L, Schaffhausen BS, Hou W, Li L (2004) Attenuation of SARS coronavirus by a short hairpin RNA expression plasmid targeting RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, Virol 324 84-89... 

Ni B, Shi X, Li Y, Gao W, Wang X, Wu Y (2005) Inhibition of replication and infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus with plasmid-mediated interference RNA. Antivir Ther 10 527-533... 

HCV 3D polymerase NS5B SARS Coronavirus main protease A1-antitrypsin aggregation... 

Transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus N-terminal domain of the spike glycoprotein (S) Arabidopsis leaf gS elicited virus-neutralizing antibodies. -Immunogenic when administered parenterally. 114... 

Respiratory viruses are by far the most common infectious agents associated with acute bronchitis. The common cold viruses, rhinovirus and coronavirus, and lower respiratory tract pathogens, including influenza virus, adenovirus, and respiratory syncytial virus, account for the majority of cases. Mycoplasma pneumoniae also appears to be a frequent cause of acute bronchitis. Other bacterial causes include Chlamydia pneumoniae and Bordetella pertussis. 

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