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Overview of antiviral drug candidates targeting coronaviral 3C‐like main proteases
Author(s) -
Chen ChunChi,
Yu Xuejing,
Kuo ChihJung,
Min Jian,
Chen Sizhuo,
Ma Lixin,
Liu Ke,
Guo ReyTing
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the febs journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.981
H-Index - 204
eISSN - 1742-4658
pISSN - 1742-464X
DOI - 10.1111/febs.15696
Subject(s) - polyproteins , proteases , virology , coronavirus , middle east respiratory syndrome , coronaviridae , antiviral drug , cysteine protease , covid-19 , drug , protease , viral life cycle , biology , mechanism (biology) , medicine , disease , pharmacology , virus , viral replication , infectious disease (medical specialty) , enzyme , biochemistry , pathology , philosophy , epistemology
Coronaviruses (CoVs) are positive single‐stranded RNA viruses that cause severe respiratory syndromes in humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV (SARS‐CoV‐2) at the end of 2019 became a global pandemic. The 3C‐like cysteine protease (3CLpro) processes viral polyproteins to yield mature non‐structural proteins, thus playing an important role in the CoV life cycle, and therefore is considered as a prominent target for antiviral drugs. To date, many 3CLpro inhibitors have been reported, and their molecular mechanisms have been illustrated. Here, we briefly introduce the structural features of 3CLpro of the human‐related SARS‐CoV, MERS‐CoV and SARS‐CoV‐2, and explore the potency and mechanism of their cognate inhibitors. This information will shed light on the development and optimization of CoV 3CLpro inhibitors, which may benefit the further designation of therapeutic strategies for treating CoV diseases.