Du R, Cheng H, Cui Q, Peet NP, Gaisina IN, Rong L. Identification of a novel inhibitor targeting influenza A virus group 2 hemagglutinins. Antiviral Res. 2021 Jan 8:105013
Influenza A virus (IAV) causes seasonal epidemics and occasional but devastating pandemics, which are major public health concerns. The putative antiviral therapeutics are useful for the treatment of influenza, however, the emerging resistant strains necessitate a constant search for new drug candidates. Here we report the discovery of a novel antiviral agent, compound CBS1194, which was identified by a parallel high-throughput screening (HTS) campaign using two retroviral pseudotypes bearing H7 or H5 hemagglutinins (HAs). Subsequent analyses demonstrated that CBS1194 is specific to IAVs of group 2, while it has no effect against those of group 1. In a time-of-addition assay, CBS1194 showed a significant inhibitory effect during the early phase of viral infection. In addition, HA-mediated hemolysis can be inhibited by CBS1194 treatment, indicating that this compound may target the HA stalk region, which is responsible for membrane fusion. Escape mutant analyses and in silico docking further revealed that CBS1194 fits into a pocket near the fusion peptide, causing steric hindrance that blocks the low-pH induced rearrangement of HA. In summary, our study identifies a novel fusion inhibitor of group 2 IAVs, which has the potential as lead compound for further development.
See Also:
Latest articles in those days:
- High-throughput pseudovirus neutralisation maps the antigenic landscape of influenza A/H1N1 viruses 21 hours ago
- Timely vaccine strain selection and genomic surveillance improve evolutionary forecast accuracy of seasonal influenza A/H3N2 21 hours ago
- Evaluation of a Novel Data Source for National Influenza Surveillance: Influenza Hospitalization Data in the National Healthcare Safety Network, United States, September 2021-April 2024 21 hours ago
- Scenarios for pre-pandemic zoonotic influenza preparedness and response 21 hours ago
- Stability of Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Milk from Infected Cows and Virus-Spiked Milk 2 days ago
[Go Top] [Close Window]


