Novel Strategies on Antiviral Drug Discovery Against Human Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Viral infections can cause various diseases. The impact of viral infection on human health can range from mild diseases, such as the common cold or flu, to severe and life-threatening diseases, as seen with HIV/AIDS, Ebola or SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 infections. Besides natural human innate and acquired antiviral responses, vaccine and antiviral drugs are the two major arsenales that can be used to fight viral infection. Vaccines are developed through the activation of the human antiviral immune response against a specific viral infection. This is very effective in eliminating some viral infections, such as polio, measles, mumps, and rubella. It could also be effective in preventing viral infections such as HBV or flu infection. However, vaccine development is often challenged by the cross-reactivities of neutralizing antibodies, antibody-dependent enhancement of viral infection or antigenic diversity, such as those found in flaviviral infections. Antiviral drugs, on the other hand, have unique advantages in comparison with vaccination. It is typically designed to directly modulate a viral protein or a cellular pathway that the virus relies on for survival. Various classes of antiviral drugs have been used successfully to eradicate or curtail viral infection. One of the major breakthroughs in the last few decades was the cure of HCV infection. The successful use of combinational antiretroviral therapies (cART) against HIV-1 infection can now not only suppress HIV-1 viral load to under detectable levels, but also prolong patients’ lives to nearly normal lifespan. Interestingly, while cART is successful in curtailing HIV-infection, there is still no available anti-HIV vaccine, which provides a strong argument for the development of antivirals to battle viral infection. Unlike antibiotics used to fight bacterial infection, there are very limited or no specific antiviral drugs for most human viral diseases. Therefore, novel strategies or novel viral targets are needed for future antiviral drug discovery and development. The objective of this Collection is to accomplish just that, i.e., to collect novel ideas and/or novel viral targets and methods that could be used for the discovery and development of new antiviral drugs.

In this Collection, we welcome original research and review articles that are focused on these areas. The potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Novel strategies for antiviral drug discovery and development against human diseases;
• Novel viral targets for the discovery and development of new antivirals;
• Novel host-targeting antivirals;
• New strategies or methods for high-throughput drug screening and testing;
• Novel or effective structure-based antiviral designs;
• Artificial intelligence and virtual antiviral drug screening.

Dr. Jun Wang
Prof. Dr. Richard Y. Zhao
Prof. Dr. Lin Li
Collection Editors