First demonstration of the effectiveness of inhibitors of cellular protein kinases in antiviral therapy

Abstract

Viral replication and pathogenesis involves many cellular protein kinases, and many specific inhibitors of such kinase have been developed for the treatment of noninfectious diseases. As expected, such drugs have been repeatedly demonstrated to inhibit viral replication in cultured cells. Cellular protein kinases have thus been considered for several years as potentially valid targets for antiviral therapy. However, until recently there was no proof of such activity in vivo. The three papers discussed herein demonstrate that inhibitors of cellular protein kinases are indeed effective for the treatment of virus-induced disease in animal models and human clinical trials.

Keywords::

• antiviral drugs
• cellular protein kinases
• Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus
• pharmacological inhibitors
• poxvirus
• viral pathogenesis
• viral replication

Acknowledgements

LMS is a CIHR New Investigator, an AHFMR Scholar and a Burroughs-Wellcome Fund (BWF) Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease. The studies in our lab are supported by CIHR operating budget grant MOP49551 and by the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund. Our laboratory was equipped with funds provided by the AHFMR and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Alberta.