Issue 2, 2013

Natural products as a source of anti-herpes simplex virus agents

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is the major cause of neonatal and sporadic encephalitis as well as genital herpes globally. Although acyclovir (ACV) and related nucleoside analogs are valuable drugs for the treatment of infection and the suppression of dissemination, HSV remains highly prevalent worldwide. The emergence of resistance to ACV has also created an obstacle for the treatment of HSV-infected immunocompromised patients and highlights the need for new, safe and effective antiviral agents. Natural products, particularly traditional medicines, which have provided multiple novel drug leads, are known to be an important source of anti-HSV agents, even though their mechanisms of action and targets are unknown. In recent years, potential targets for anti-HSV agents have been identified, and these may be the targets of the effective natural products whose mechanisms are currently unknown. This review will focus on anti-HSV herbs, extracts, fractions and compounds from natural sources, in addition to potential anti-HSV targets. By creating a summary of the characteristics of active anti-HSV compounds and using that summary to mine natural product databases, a better drug discovery paradigm may be found.

Graphical abstract: Natural products as a source of anti-herpes simplex virus agents

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
16 Jul 2012
Accepted
11 Oct 2012
First published
31 Oct 2012

RSC Adv., 2013,3, 313-328

Natural products as a source of anti-herpes simplex virus agents

M. Zhong, Y. Xiang, X. Qiu, Z. Liu, K. Kitazato and Y. Wang, RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 313 DOI: 10.1039/C2RA21464D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements