Antiviral therapeutics for chikungunya virus

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a reemerging human arthropod borne virus, can causes global epidemic outbreaks and has become a serious health concern due to the unavailability of any antiviral therapy/vaccine. Extensive research has been conducted to target different proteins from CHIKV to curtail the spread of virus.

Areas covered: This review provides an overview of the granted patents including the current status of antiviral strategies targeting CHIKV.

Expert opinion: Under the current scenario, potential molecules and different approaches have been utilized to suppress CHIKV infection. MV-CHIKV and VRC-CHKVLP059-00-VP vaccine candidates have successfully completed phase I clinical trials and ribavirin (inhibitor) has shown significant inhibition of CHIKV replication and could be the most promising candidates. The drug resistance and toxicity can be modulated by using the inhibitors/drugs in combination. Moreover, nanoparticle formulations can improve the efficacy and bioavailability of drugs.

KEYWORDS:

• Anti-CHIKV molecules
• natural inhibitors
• patented inhibitors
• rna silencing technology
• virus-like particles

Article highlights

• Global CHIKV epidemic warrants the identification of drug candidates.

• Inhibitors/drugs, monoclonal antibodies, virus-like particles and siRNAs are being studied for effective inhibition of CHIKV.

• Combinational drugs can improve efficacy and reduce the incidence of resistance.

• Nano-based formulations of drugs can enhance stability and bioavailability.

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Department of Biotechnology, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, UP, India, for providing the infrastructural facility to carry out the work and acknowledge the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) for providing financial support (ACK. NO. 113486/2K18/1 and FILE NO. 09/1132(0007)/19-EMR-I).

Author contributions

R Gabrani was involved in the conception and designing of the manuscript. R Gabrani and R Ghildiyal were involved in the analysis and interpretation of the data and both were involved in drafting the paper or revising it critically for intellectual content.

Declaration of interest

The authors were supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) (ACK. NO. 113486/2K18/1 and FILE NO. 09/1132(0007)/19-EMR-I).