2. Academic Validation
  3. Identification of influenza A nucleoprotein as an antiviral target

Identification of influenza A nucleoprotein as an antiviral target

  • Nat Biotechnol. 2010 Jun;28(6):600-5. doi: 10.1038/nbt.1638.
Richard Y Kao 1,  Dan Yang,  Lai-Shan Lau,  Wayne H W Tsui,  Lihong Hu,  Jun Dai,  Mei-Po Chan,  Che-Man Chan,  Pui Wang,  Bo-Jian Zheng,  Jian Sun,  Jian-Dong Huang,  Jason Madar,  Guanhua Chen,  Honglin Chen,  Yi Guan,  Kwok-Yung Yuen
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. rytkao@hkucc.hku.hk
PMID: 20512121 DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1638
Abstract

Influenza A remains a significant public health challenge because of the emergence of antigenically shifted or highly virulent strains. Antiviral resistance to available drugs such as adamantanes or neuraminidase inhibitors has appeared rapidly, creating a need for new Antiviral targets and new drugs for Influenza Virus infections. Using forward chemical genetics, we have identified influenza A nucleoprotein (NP) as a druggable target and found a small-molecule compound, nucleozin, that triggers the aggregation of NP and inhibits its nuclear accumulation. Nucleozin impeded influenza A virus replication in vitro with a nanomolar median effective concentration (EC(50)) and protected mice challenged with lethal doses of avian influenza A H5N1. Our results demonstrate that viral NP is a valid target for the development of small-molecule therapies.

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