chapter 26 (5)

Question 1

Antiviral Drugs

Answer 1

Most antiviral drugs also target host structures.
Most successful antivirals are the nucleotide analogs.
-Block reverse transcriptase and production of DNA
Non nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors: NNRTI bind directly to RT and inhibit reverse transcription.

Question 2

Antiviral Drugs: TYPES

Answer 2

Protease inhibitors: inhibit processing of viral proteins.
Fusion inhibitors: prevent viruses from successfully fusing with host.
Interferons: small proteins that prevent viral multiplication.

Question 3

Antifungal Drugs

Answer 3

Fungi pose special problem for chemotherapy because they are eukaryotic.

• cellular machinery is similar
• many antifungals are topical
• few drugs target unique metabolic processes unique to fungi.

Question 4

Antifungal Drugs: TYPES

Answer 4

Ergosterol inhibitors: target the unique fungal plasma membrane.
Echinocandins: inhibit glucan synthase.

Question 5

Antimicrobial drug resistance

Answer 5

The acquired ability of a microorganism to resist the effects of a chemotherapeutic agent to which it is normally sensitive.

• Organism lacks structure the ab inhibits
• organism is impermeable to ab
• organism can inactivate ab
• organism may modify target of ab
• organism may develop a resistant pathway
• organism may be able to pump out ab

Question 6

Antimicrobial drug resistance: How?

Answer 6

Most drug resistant bacteria contain genes located on R plasmids.
Evidence indicates that R plasmids predate the ab era.
The use of ab in medicine, vets and agriculture selects for the spread of R plasmids.

Question 7

Antimicrobial drug resistance: Minimizing resistance

Answer 7

Resistance can be minimized by using antibiotics correctly and only when needed.
Resistance to a certain antibiotic can be lost if antibiotic is not used for several years.

Question 8

The search for new antimicrobial drugs

Answer 8

Increased development of new antimicrobial compounds.
—modification of current compounds.
Automated chemistry methods has sped up drug discovery.
—1 in 7000000 useful.

Question 9

The search for new antimicrobial drugs: Using technology

Answer 9

Computers can now be used to design molecules to interact with specific microbial structures.
Combination of drugs can be used.