Evaluating the 3C-like protease activity of SARS-Coronavirus: recommendations for standardized assays for drug discovery.

ABSTRACT: Although the initial outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) were controlled by public health measures, the development of vaccines and antiviral agents for SARS-CoV is essential for improving control and treatment of future outbreaks. One potential target for SARS-CoV antiviral drug development is the 3C-like protease (3CLpro). This enzyme is an attractive target since it is essential for viral replication, and since there are now a number of high resolution X-ray structures of SARS-CoV 3CLpro available making structure-based drug-design possible. As a result, SARS-CoV 3CLpro has become the focus of numerous drug discovery efforts worldwide, but as a consequence, a variety of different 3CLpro expression constructs and kinetic assays hav

SUBMITTER: Grum-Tokars V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4036818 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature