Antivirals Flashcards
What is HAART?
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy - a cocktail therapy.
No current antiviral drugs are viricidal. T or F?
True.
Most current antiviral drugs are only active when…
… the virus is replicating.
HAART therapy for pregnant women has a huge success rate with preventing transmission to the child. T or F?
True.
Bonus: Implementing it universally in Africa is a big challenge though.
What allows nucleoside analogues (zidovudine) to be selective for the virus?
The endogenously-phosphorylated (activated) species has a much higher (about 100 times higher) affinity for viral reverse transcriptase than human DNA polymerase.
What is this lecture’s example of a nucleoside VRTI?
zitovudine.
What don’t you give if you’re up the Duff?
Delaviridine. D for duff, d for delaviridine.
What are usually the central ingredient in a HAART therapy?
nVRTIs.
How is acyclovir selective for the herpes virus?
It can only be phosphorylated (activated) by VIRAL thymidine kinase. I.e. isn’t activated in uninfected cells.
Which kills infected cells: antiretroviral nRTIs or anti-herpes acyclovir?
Acyclovir.
X lends selectivity to antiretroviral nRTIs and gancilovir and M lends selectivity to acyclovir.
X: selective affinity for viral RT.
Y: only activated by VIRAL thymidine kinase.
What’s the name of the antiviral for Herpes?
Acyclovir.
These ones inhibit the post-translational modification of viral precursor peptides.
Protease inhibitors (-navir) Sequanavir, indinavir, ritonavir
This drug is in the same class as acyclovir but has the same means of selectivity (affinity for viral transcriptase) as nRTIs.
Gancilovir.
Which anti-herpes drug from the lecture would be found in topical creams (as well as systemic formulations)
Acyclovir.
What briefly is the central scare of hepatitis viruses?
Chronic liver inflammation leading to cirrhosis and death.
One net effect of the upregulation of viral proteins via the JAKS pathway (stimulated by interferon-alpha) is the destruction of infected hepatocytes. What brings about this effect?
Promotion of NK cell formation.
What is “absolutely contraindicated” in pregnancy?
Ribavirin
What expensive breakthrough has “solved” Hep C infection?
Sovaldi.
What situations are the discussed anti-flu drugs good for?
Only for prophylaxis or if taken rapidly after infection (24-48 hours).
What are the nRTIs discussed in this lecture?
Standing over a sweaty stove will give you zits, which is lamentable thing to happen.
Zitovutine, lamivudine
What is the non-nucleoside RTI?
Dining with de la Soul would be very exciting. I wouldn’t be the least bit nonplused.
Delavirdine
What are the nRTIs discussed in this lecture?
Zitovudine, lamivudine
What is the non-nucleoside RTI?
Delavirdine
What are the two anti-herpes drugs in the lecture?
Aaaye Gran’s riding a bike.
Acyclovir, Gancyclovir
What are the two anti-herpes drugs?
Acyclovir, gancyclovir
Why should a pregnant woman worry if she gets hepatisis?
Because IFN-a is contraindicated and ribavirin is “absolutely contraindicated”.
O causes GI problems where Z can bring about asthma in asthmatic people.
Oseltamivir, zanamivir
What are two side effects of zidovudine?
Anaemia, neutropaenia
Bonus: not a side effect but resistance is also a problem.
T or F: resistance is a problem in zidovudine?
Yes.
A lot of drug interactions is a particular problem of _________.
Delaviridine
Who CAN’T you give lamivudine to?
Renal failure patients.
Why MUST saquinavir be accompanied by a nVRTI?
Because of resistance.
Saquinovir kind of sounds like sanguin. What two body effusions are side effects of sanquinavir?
Nausea, diarrhoea
characteristically well tolerated though
Which antivirals might you expect to experience taste disturbances with?
Indinavir, ritonavir.
Why is gancyclovir only reserved for baaad cytomegalovirus infections?
2 side effects:
Irreversible neutropaenia
Possible carcinogen.
How does amantadine work against the flu?
Dock blocker. Prevents fusion.
What’s a major con of IFNa as a treatment?
Major toxic side effects.
Only thing mentioned about IFNa PK. GOD Yiguang’s lectures are slow.
Slow absorbtion (injection)
Acyclovir is great for herpes and varicellar zoster, but what CAN’T you use acyclovir for?
cytomegalovirus - it doesn’t encode thyridine kinase.
Cytomegalovirus doesn’t encode tyridine kinase. What antiviral does this protect it from?
acyclovir.
