Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
Lead Discovery Siena s.r.l., Castelnuovo Berardenga, Italy.
Curr Med Chem. 2021 Oct 27;28(34):6957-6976. doi: 10.2174/0929867328666210218182203.
Enveloped viruses belong to a large class of pathogens responsible for multiple serious diseases. Their spread into new territories has been the cause of major epidemics throughout human history, including the Spanish flu in 1918 and the latest COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to their outer membrane, consisting essentially of host lipids, enveloped viruses are more resistant to enzymes and are also less susceptible to host immune defenses than their naked counterparts. Therefore, the development of effective approaches to combat enveloped virus infections represents a major challenge for antiviral therapy in the current century. This review focuses on the characteristics of enveloped viruses, their importance in the entry phase, drugs targeting envelope membrane- mediated entry, and those specifically designed to target the envelope. The broad- -spectrum antiviral activity of these compounds can be attributed to their ability to affect the envelope, an essential structural feature common to several viruses. This makes this class of compounds agents of great interest when no specific drugs or vaccines are available to block viral infections.
包膜病毒属于一大类病原体，可导致多种严重疾病。它们向新领域的传播是人类历史上重大疫情的原因，包括 1918 年的西班牙流感和最近的 COVID-19 大流行。由于其外层膜主要由宿主脂质组成，包膜病毒比其裸露的对应物更能抵抗酶，也更不容易受到宿主免疫防御的影响。因此，开发有效的方法来对抗包膜病毒感染是本世纪抗病毒治疗的主要挑战。本综述重点介绍包膜病毒的特征、它们在进入阶段的重要性、针对包膜膜介导进入的药物以及专门针对包膜的药物。这些化合物的广谱抗病毒活性可归因于它们影响包膜的能力，包膜是几种病毒共有的重要结构特征。当没有特定的药物或疫苗可用于阻止病毒感染时，这类化合物成为极具吸引力的药物。
