TY - JOUR
T1 - Ribavirin's antiviral mechanism of action
T2 - Lethal mutagenesis?
AU - Crotty, Shane
AU - Cameron, Craig Eugene
AU - Andino, Raul
PY - 2002/3/5
Y1 - 2002/3/5
N2 - Ribavirin, an antiviral drug discovered in 1972, is interesting and important for three reasons: (a) it exhibits antiviral activity against a broad range of RNA viruses; (b) it is currently used clinically to treat hepatitis C virus infections, respiratory syncytial virus infections, and Lassa fever virus infections; and (c) ribavirin's mechanism of action has remained unclear for many years. Here we recount the history of ribavirin and review recent reports regarding ribavirin's mechanism of action, including our studies demonstrating that ribavirin is an RNA virus mutagen and ribavirin's primary antiviral mechanism of action against a model RNA virus is via lethal mutagenesis of the RNA virus genomes. Implications for the development of improved versions of ribavirin and for the development of novel antiviral drugs are discussed.
AB - Ribavirin, an antiviral drug discovered in 1972, is interesting and important for three reasons: (a) it exhibits antiviral activity against a broad range of RNA viruses; (b) it is currently used clinically to treat hepatitis C virus infections, respiratory syncytial virus infections, and Lassa fever virus infections; and (c) ribavirin's mechanism of action has remained unclear for many years. Here we recount the history of ribavirin and review recent reports regarding ribavirin's mechanism of action, including our studies demonstrating that ribavirin is an RNA virus mutagen and ribavirin's primary antiviral mechanism of action against a model RNA virus is via lethal mutagenesis of the RNA virus genomes. Implications for the development of improved versions of ribavirin and for the development of novel antiviral drugs are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1007/s00109-001-0308-0
DO - 10.1007/s00109-001-0308-0
M3 - Review article
C2 - 11907645
AN - SCOPUS:0036182633
VL - 80
SP - 86
EP - 95
JO - Journal of Molecular Medicine
JF - Journal of Molecular Medicine
SN - 0946-2716
IS - 2
ER -