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Volume 31 Issue 1
February 2016
    Citation: Haofeng Wang, Song Xue, Haitao Yang, Cheng Chen. Recent progress in the discovery of inhibitors targeting coronavirus proteases .VIROLOGICA SINICA, 2016, 31(1) : 24-30.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12250-015-3711-3
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    Recent progress in the discovery of inhibitors targeting coronavirus proteases

    • School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

    • Corresponding author: Haitao Yang, yanght@tju.edu.cn, ORCID: 0000-0002-1875-3268
      Cheng Chen, chengchen@tju.edu.cn, ORCID: 0000-0002-2228-2489
    • Received Date: 29 December 2015
      Accepted Date: 22 January 2016
      Published Date: 19 February 2016
      Available online: 01 February 2016
    • Coronaviruses (CoVs) can cause highly prevalent diseases in humans and animals. The fatal outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) highlights the threat posed by this unique virus subfamily. However, no specific drugs have been approved to treat CoV-associated diseases to date. The CoV proteases, which play pivotal roles in viral gene expression and replication through a highly complex cascade involving the proteolytic processing of replicase polyproteins, are attractive targets for drug design. This review summarizes the recent advances in biological and structural studies, together with the development of inhibitors targeting CoV proteases, particularly main proteases (Mpros), which could help develop effective treatments to prevent CoV infection.
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      Recent progress in the discovery of inhibitors targeting coronavirus proteases

      • Received Date: 29 December 2015
      • Accepted Date: 22 January 2016
      • Published Date: 19 February 2016

      Abstract: Coronaviruses (CoVs) can cause highly prevalent diseases in humans and animals. The fatal outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) highlights the threat posed by this unique virus subfamily. However, no specific drugs have been approved to treat CoV-associated diseases to date. The CoV proteases, which play pivotal roles in viral gene expression and replication through a highly complex cascade involving the proteolytic processing of replicase polyproteins, are attractive targets for drug design. This review summarizes the recent advances in biological and structural studies, together with the development of inhibitors targeting CoV proteases, particularly main proteases (Mpros), which could help develop effective treatments to prevent CoV infection.

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