title: Human cytomegalovirus DNA replication: antiviral targets and drugs.
abstract: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is associated with severe morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised individuals, in particular transplant recipients and AIDS patients, and is the most frequent congenital viral infection in humans. There are currently five drugs approved for HCMV treatment: ganciclovir and its prodrug valganciclovir, foscarnet, cidofovir and fomivirsen. These drugs have provided a major advance in HCMV disease management, but they suffer from poor bioavailability, significant toxicity and limited effectiveness, mainly due to the development of drug resistance. Fortunately, there are several novel and potentially very effective new compounds which are under pre-clinical and clinical evaluation and may address these limitations. This review focuses on HCMV proteins that are directly or indirectly involved in viral DNA replication and represent already established or potential novel antiviral targets, and describes both currently available drugs and new compounds against such protein targets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology, Microbiology and Medical Biotechnologies, University of Padua, 35121 Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mercorelli
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sinigalia
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loregian
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palù
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000187:drug effects*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents