Antiviral Agents ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Interferons ; pharmacology ; Pharmacology, Clinical

Antiviral Agents ; pharmacology ; Hepatitis B virus ; drug effects ; Interferons ; pharmacology

Microbial transformation is an efficient enzymatic approach for the structural modification of exogenous compounds to obtain derivatives. Compared with traditional chemical synthesis, the microbial transformation has in fact the undoubtable advantages of strong region-and stereo-selectivity, and a low environmental and economic impact on the production process, which can achieve the reactions challenging to chemical synthesis. Because microbes are equipped with a broad-spectrum of enzymes and therefore can metabolize various substrates, they are not only a significant route for obtaining novel active derivatives, but also an effective tool for mimicking mammal metabolism in vitro. Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene with a peroxy-bridged structure serving as the main active functional group, is a famous antimalarial agent discovered from Artemisia annua L. Some sesquiterpenoids, such as dihydroartemisinin, artemether, and arteether, have been developed on the basis of artemisinin, which have been successfully marketed and become the first-line antimalarial drugs recommended by WHO. As revealed by pharmacological studies, artemisinin and its derivatives have exhibited extensive biological activities, including antimalarial, antitumor, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory. As an efficient approach for structural modification, microbial transformation of artemisinin and its derivatives is an increasingly popular strategy that attracts considerable attention recently, and numerous novel derivatives have been discovered. Herein, this paper reviewed the microbial transformation of artemisinin and its artemisinin, including microbial strains, culture conditions, product isolation and yield, and biological activities, and summarized the advances in microbial transformation in obtaining active derivatives of artemisinin and the simulation of in vivo metabolism of drugs.
Animals ; Antimalarials/pharmacology* ; Antiviral Agents ; Artemether ; Artemisinins ; Mammals

Tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids distributed widely in the nature and some have a broad application in clinic. More attention has been paid in recent years on this type of alkaloid, owing to the diverse range of biological activities exhibited by these alkaloids and the discovery of new functional mechanisms and molecular targets underlying these activities. This article summarized the recent advances in the biological activities and functional mechanism of tetrahydroisoquinoline, which included the activities such as antitumor, antibiotic, antivirus, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulation, bronchodilation, and the action on central nervous system, with the purpose of providing some ideas in the study of biological activity of this type of alkaloid and in the search for lead-compound and rational drug design.
Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Anticonvulsants ; pharmacology ; Antifungal Agents ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Antiviral Agents ; pharmacology ; Bronchodilator Agents ; pharmacology ; Central Nervous System Agents ; pharmacology ; Fibrinolytic Agents ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; Tetrahydroisoquinolines ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology

Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins ; Apoptosis ; Antiviral Agents/pharmacology* ; Mitochondrial Proteins ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology*

The challenge of the emergence of drug-resistant influenza strains, which is caused by wide spread utilization of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), accelerates the research and exploration towards host targeted agents. In contrast to DAAs targeting viral replication components, host targeted agents, which regulate host factors and pathways linked to viral replication, can interfere the replication of influenza. Additionally, the innate immune system is activated by influenza during the early stage of infection, so manipulating the innate immune response may prevent the viral infection. However, the excessive inflammatory response induced at the late phase of influenza infection would lead to severe tissue injures. Thus, it is very important to explore drugs with anti-inflammatory actions to suppress these immune imbalances and tissue injures. Here we overview the current progresses about host targets related to anti-influenza drugs.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Antiviral Agents ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Immunity, Innate ; Influenza, Human ; drug therapy ; Virus Replication

The total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) which was isolated from Meishan porcine and induced with concanavaline A (ConA), then the porcine interferon gamma gene (PoIFNgamma, 501bp) was amplified by RT-PCR. The result of sequencing demonstrated that the amplified PoIFNgamma had 100% nucleotide homology with the other porcine IFNgamma sequence published on GenBank. The objective gene (PoIFNgamma) was inserted into adenoviral shuttle vector, pShuttle-CMV, to construct recombinant plasmid pSh-PoIFNgamma. And it was co-electrotransformated with adenoviral skeletal vector pAdEasy-1 into competent cells of BJ5183. The transforms were cultured at 37 degrees C for 24h on kanamycin resistance plate and selected for smaller colonies. Then, the extracted recombinant plasmid was named pAd-Sh-PoIFNgamma, which was confirmed by Pac I digestion, and transformed into XL10-Glod(r) for copious preparation. pAd-Sh-PoIFNgamma linearized with Pac I was co-transfected with liposome into 293 package cell-line. After 7d-10d, the typical cytopathic effect indicated that recombinant adenoviral genome (deleted with E1 and E3 genes) carrying PoIFNgamma was successfully packaged into intact virion. The recombinant virion was successively seeded to the 10th generation and the viral genome was extracted from each generation by PCR. The antiviral activity of PoIFNgamma was tested by CPE50 method. The results showed that the PoIFNgamma expressed by adenovirus had high antiviral activity, which was 1.3 x 10(6) U/mL against VSV in MDBK cells. The results demonstrated that the recombinant adenovirus carrying PoIFNgamma could be stably passaged.
Adenoviridae ; genetics ; Animals ; Antiviral Agents ; pharmacology ; Interferon-gamma ; genetics ; pharmacology ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; pharmacology ; Swine

This paper reviewed the progress in researches on antiviral activity of chemical constituents from plants in recent years, the antiviral activity and mechanism of action of flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, coumarins and polysaccharoses were sammarszed, provided new leading compound for antivirus new drugs from the plares in prospect.
Antiviral Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology

The aim of this study was to produce recombinant porcine interferon gamma (rPoIFN-γ) by Chinese hamster ovarian (CHO) cells expression system and to analyze its antiviral activity. Firstly, we constructed the recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA3.1-PoIFN-γ and transfected into suspension cultured CHO cells for secretory expression of rPoIFN-γ. The rPoIFN-γ was purified by affinity chromatography and identified with SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Subsequently, the cytotoxicity of rPoIFN-γ was analyzed by CCK-8 test, and the antiviral activity of rPoIFN-γ was evaluated using standard procedures in VSV/PK-15 (virus/cell) test system. Finally the anti-Seneca virus A (SVA) of rPoIFN-γ activity and the induction of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) and cytokines were also analyzed. The results showed that rPoIFN-γ could successfully expressed in the supernatant of CHO cells. CCK-8 assays indicated that rPoIFN-γ did not show cytotoxicity on IBRS-2 cells. The biological activity of rPoIFN-γ was 5.59×10⁷ U/mg in VSV/PK-15 system. Moreover, rPoIFN-γ could induced the expression of ISGs and cytokines, and significantly inhibited the replication of SVA. In conclusion, the high activity of rPoIFN-γ was successfully prepared by CHO cells expression system, which showed strong antiviral activity on SVA. This study may facilitate the investigation of rPoIFN-γ function and the development of novel genetically engineered antiviral drugs.
Swine ; Animals ; Cricetinae ; Interferon-gamma/pharmacology* ; Cricetulus ; CHO Cells ; Sincalide ; Recombinant Proteins/pharmacology* ; Antiviral Agents/pharmacology*

This study examined the anti-viral effect of ursolic acid on guinea pig cytomegalovirus (GPCMV) and explored the steps of viral replication targeted by ursolic acid. Cytopathic effect assay and MTT method were employed to determine the 50% cellular cytotoxicity (CC(50)), 50% effective concentration (EC(50)) and therapeutic index (TI) with GPCMV. To investigate the specific anti-viral effect of ursolic acid at different temperatures and time points, two other medicines, ganciclovir and Jinyebaidu (JYBD), serving as controls, were studied for comparison. Our results showed that the CC50 of ganciclovir, JYBD and ursolic acid were 333.8, 3015.6, 86.7 μg/mL, respectively; EC(50) of ganciclovir, JYBD and ursolic acid was 48.1, 325.5 and 6.8 μg/mL, respectively; TI of ganciclovir, JYBD and ursolic acid was 7, 9, 13, respectively. Similar with ganciclovir, ursolic acid could inhibit the viral synthesis, but did not affect the viral adsorption onto and penetration into cells. We are led to conclude that the anti-cytomegalovirus effect of ursolic acid is significantly stronger than ganciclovir or JYBD, and the cytotoxic effect of ursolic acid lies in its ability to inhibit viral synthesis.
Animals ; Antiviral Agents ; pharmacology ; Cells, Cultured ; Guinea Pigs ; Roseolovirus ; drug effects ; Triterpenes ; pharmacology