Title:Natural Products as a Paradigm for the Treatment of Coxsackievirus - induced Myocarditis
Volume: 20
Issue: 8
Author(s): Madhu Khanna*, Anju Gautam, Roopali Rajput and Latika Sharma
Affiliation:
- Department of Microbiology (Virology Unit), Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007,India
Keywords:
Natural Products, Coxsackievirus, Myocarditis, Picornaviridae, Viral pathology, Antiviral agent.
Abstract: Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), a member of the Picornaviridae family, is considered to be one of
the most important infectious agents to cause virus-induced myocarditis. Despite improvements in studying
viral pathology, structure and molecular biology, as well as diagnosis of this disease, there is still no
virus-specific drug in clinical use. Structural and nonstructural proteins produced during the coxsackievirus
life cycle have been identified as potential targets for blocking viral replication at the step of attachment,
entry, uncoating, RNA and protein synthesis by synthetic or natural compounds. Moreover, WIN
(for Winthrop) compounds and application of nucleic-acid based strategies were shown to target viral
capsid, entry and viral proteases, but have not reached to the clinical trials as a successful antiviral agent.
There is an urgent need for diverse molecular libraries for phenotype-selective and high-throughput
screening.