Screening of an FDA-approved compound library identifies four small-molecule inhibitors of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus replication in cell culture.

ABSTRACT: Coronaviruses can cause respiratory and enteric disease in a wide variety of human and animal hosts. The 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) first demonstrated the potentially lethal consequences of zoonotic coronavirus infections in humans. In 2012, a similar previously unknown coronavirus emerged, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), thus far causing over 650 laboratory-confirmed infections, with an unexplained steep rise in the number of cases being recorded over recent months. The human MERS fatality rate of ∼ 30% is alarmingly high, even though many deaths were associated with underlying medical conditions. Registered therapeutics for the treatment of coronavirus infections are not available. Moreover, the pace of drug development and registra

SUBMITTER: de Wilde AH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4136071 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature