Progression of Antiviral Agents Targeting Viral Polymerases

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 27; no. 21; p. 7370
• Main Authors: Peng, Siqi, Wang, Huizhen, Wang, Zhengtao, Wang, Qingzhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29.10.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Anti-HIV agents; Antiviral agents; Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Antiviral drugs; Coronaviruses; Development and progression; DNA; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; inhibitors; Lassa fever; Mediation; natural products; Respiratory diseases; Reverse transcriptase inhibitors; Review; RNA; RNA polymerases; Suramin sodium; Telbivudine; viral DNA and RNA polymerase; Viruses; antiviral drugs; inhibitors; natural products; viral DNA and RNA polymerase
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules27217370

Viral DNA and RNA polymerases are two kinds of very important enzymes that synthesize the genetic materials of the virus itself, and they have become extremely favorable targets for the development of antiviral drugs because of their relatively conserved characteristics. There are many similarities in the structure and function of different viral polymerases, so inhibitors designed for a certain viral polymerase have acted as effective universal inhibitors on other types of viruses. The present review describes the development of classical antiviral drugs targeting polymerases, summarizes a variety of viral polymerase inhibitors from the perspective of chemically synthesized drugs and natural product drugs, describes novel approaches, and proposes promising development strategies for antiviral drugs.