Prama Ghosh, Amity University Kolkata
Marine chemists Mitchell Christy, Yoshinori Uekusa, and others at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California San Diego, have described the genomic and life-history traits of three classes of RNA viruses that have caused endemic and global pandemics in the past in their review which was published in the Journal of Natural Products. The researchers aimed to identify natural products, compounds produced in nature, having the potential to disrupt the spread of these viruses.
The researchers found that natural products are a valuable source of inhibitors that can be used for new drug development to target these viruses that use RNA to store their genetic information instead of DNA. This trait of these viruses helps them to evolve rapidly.
Marizomib, a drug that came from a genus of marine bacteria collected by the research team of Scripps Oceanography’s Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine (CMBB), reached the final stages of clinical trials in 2020 as a potential treatment for brain cancers.
The researchers presented an overview of the structure of viruses in the families Coronaviridae, Flaviviridae, and Filoviridae, which contains the viruses that have led to COVID-19, dengue fever, West Nile encephalitis, Zika, Ebola, and Marburg disease outbreaks. Compounds produced by marine and terrestrial organisms have been identified to possess the potential to act against these viruses. The molecular architectures of these compounds enable them to serve as viral inhibitors, preventing viruses from penetrating healthy human cells or from replicating.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the UC San Diego Chancellor’s Office, the researchers aimed at improving the process of drug development in their review. Effective antiviral drugs are the need of the hour.
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This is very useful and fruitful outcomes for the researchers in the field of natural sources.