title: Recent progress in the discovery of inhibitors targeting coronavirus proteases.
abstract: Coronaviruses (CoVs) can cause highly prevalent diseases in humans and animals. The fatal outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) highlights the threat posed by this unique virus subfamily. However, no specific drugs have been approved to treat CoV-associated diseases to date. The CoV proteases, which play pivotal roles in viral gene expression and replication through a highly complex cascade involving the proteolytic processing of replicase polyproteins, are attractive targets for drug design. This review summarizes the recent advances in biological and structural studies, together with the development of inhibitors targeting CoV proteases, particularly main proteases (M(pro)s), which could help develop effective treatments to prevent CoV infection.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
authors.forename: Haofeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China. yanght@tju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China. chengchen@tju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017934:Coronavirus / Q000201:enzymology; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000821:virology*; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases
keywords: coronaviruses; main protease; protease inhibitors