Zika virus is an emerging flavivirus that causes the neurodevelopmental congenital Zika syndrome and that has been linked to the neuroinflammatory Guillain-Barré syndrome. The absence of a vaccine or a clinically approved drug to treat the disease combined with the likelihood that another outbreak will occur in the future defines an unmet medical need. Several promising drug candidate molecules have been reported via repurposing studies, high-throughput compound library screening, and de novo design in the short span of a few years. Intense research activity in this area has occurred in response to the World Health Organization declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on February 1, 2016. In this Perspective, the authors review the emergence of Zika virus, the biology of its replication, targets for therapeutic intervention, target product profile, and current drug development initiatives.
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The Centre for Infection and Immunity Studies, School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China. Electronic address:
The knowledge on the life cycle of flaviviruses is still incomplete, and no direct-acting antivirals against their infections are clinically available. Herein, by screening via a Zika virus (ZIKV) replicon assay, we found that the N-terminus of NS2A exhibited great tolerance to the insertions of different split fluorescent proteins (split-FPs). Furthermore, both ZIKV and dengue virus encoding a split-FP-tagged NS2A propagated efficiently, and the split-FP-tagged ZIKVs had good genetic stability.
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Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), 04510, Mexico City, Mexico.
Mosquito-borne flaviviruses represent a public health challenge due to the high-rate endemic infections, severe clinical outcomes, and the potential risk of emerging global outbreaks. Flavivirus disease pathogenesis converges on cellular factors from vectors and hosts, and their interactions are still unclear. Exosomes and microparticles are extracellular vesicles released from cells that mediate the intercellular communication necessary for maintaining homeostasis; however, they have been shown to be involved in disease establishment and progression.
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Center for Genetic Medicine, Children's National Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
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1Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
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Article Synopsis
- In-utero exposure to Zika virus (ZIKV) can result in severe outcomes like miscarriage and congenital Zika syndrome, prompting a study on the infection rates among pregnant women from February to April 2022.
- Researchers tested 200 pregnant women for ZIKV antibodies and found that 16.5% had ZIKV IgM, 10% had IgG, and 23% had neutralizing antibodies, indicating various stages of infection and immunity.
- The study also revealed that recent ZIKV infections were more common in sexually active women aged 20-29, with higher infection risks in first trimester and grand-multiparous women, although no significant link was found between ZIKV and specific pregnancy trimest
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