title: Current drug discovery strategies against arenavirus infections.
abstract: Arenaviruses are a large group of emerging viruses including several causative agents of severe hemorrhagic fevers with high mortality in man. Considering the number of people affected and the currently limited therapeutic options, novel efficacious therapeutics against arenaviruses are urgently needed. Over the past decade, significant advances in knowledge about the basic virology of arenaviruses have been accompanied by the development of novel therapeutics targeting different steps of the arenaviral life cycle. High-throughput, small-molecule screens identified potent and broadly active inhibitors of arenavirus entry that were instrumental for the dissection of unique features of arenavirus fusion. Novel inhibitors of arenavirus replication have been successfully tested in animal models and hold promise for application in humans. Late in the arenavirus life cycle, the proteolytic processing of the arenavirus envelope glycoprotein precursor and cellular factors critically involved virion assembly and budding provide further promising 'druggable' targets for novel therapeutics to combat human arenavirus infection.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pasquato
authors.forename: Dominique J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Burri
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kunz
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001116:Arenaviridae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001117:Arenaviridae Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D019065:Virus Assembly / Q000187:drug effects; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins