Exam III: Lecture 9 Flashcards
Why is it hard to find a drug that is solely active against a virus and not against the host?
Viruses use a ton of host machinery and the mutation rate is high
What is an example of an antiviral target found in viruses but not in host cells?
RDRP
What are the 6 classes of antiviral drugs?
- Chemotherapy
- Nucleoside analogues
- Necleotide analogues
- Non-nucleoside reverse transciptase inhibitors
- Protease inhibitors
- Antiviral proteins
- Other
How do nucleoside analogues function? What prerequisite step is required?
Bind and inhibit enzymes involved in replication = freezes the cell
They need to be metabolized into their active form by phosphorylation
How do nucleotide analogues function?
Freezes the cell
They have a phosphate group attached to them and persist in the cell for a long time
??
What is an example of an antiviral protein?
IFNalpha for Hep C
The first defense against an RNA virus
4 ways to block viral attachment?
- Antireceptor antibody = antibodies block receptor
- Soluble form of the receptor = virus binds to free-floating receptor instead of cell
- Capsid binding = block attachment of the capsid protein to the receptor
- Receptor Ligand = flood with normal ligand and the virus has no where to bind because the receptors are full
What is the problem with antibody treatment?
It is very expensive and the patient would need to be hospitalized
Why is penetration/uncoating hard to inhibit?
- The drug etc must get inside the cell
2. Symptoms dont start until penetration/uncoating has already taken place
What is an example of a penetration/uncoating inhibitor? (General and specific)
Inhibitor of ion channels > prevents acidification of the endosome
Amatadine = M2 inhibitor (proton channel on influenza virus)
What is Amatadine? What step does it inhibit?
M2 inhibitor (M2 = proton channel) Blocks uncoating by preventing the acidification of the endosome
Is targeting genome replication easy or hard? Why?
Relatively easy since many viruses have their own replication machinery
Drugs that target genome replication have short or long half lives in the blood?
Short
What is Acyclovir? What step of the lifecycle does it inhibit? What classification of antiviral does it fall under? Mechanism of action?
Genome Replication
Nucleoside analogue
Enter cell in inactive form > triphosphorylated > enters viral genome > viral polymerase things it a nucleotide > embedded into viral genome > replication halts once it reaches acyclovir because it lacks the required sugar
Does acyclovir work against active or latent viruses?
Active = they must be performing translation in order for acyclovir to work
What makes acyclovir virus-specific? What virus does it treat?
Acyclovir requires herpes kinase to do the 1st phosphorylation = HSV Thymidine Kinase
Why is assembly/maturation/release not a very desirable part of the virus life cycle to inhibit?
The damage is already done
Plus there are 1000s of virus particles in cell and that would be a lot of target
What is Tamiflu? What step of the lifecycle does it inhibit? What virus does it treat? What is its mechanism of action?
Prevents egress
Influenza
Neuraminidase inhibitor = blocks the necessary cleavage of the sialic acid influenza is attached to
What is the chemotherapeutic index?
(dose of the drug which inhibits virus replication) / (does of drug toxic to the host )