ANTIVIRAL STRATEGIES FOR HUMAN ENTEROVIRUSES

Emerging and reemerging viral infections represent a major concern for human public health emergencies and there is an urgent need for the development of broad-spectrum antivirals and next generation vaccines.By using integrated system-wide approaches including genome-wide gene silencing profiling, miRNA profiling and proteomics via high-throughput techniques, combined with bio-imaging and computational biology, we attempt to understand the biological complexity of virus-host interactions and translating it into antiviral strategies against these viral pathogens. To address the urgent need for treatment options, we have evaluated an array of antiviral strategies from high throughput screening of small molecule compound libraries for potential antivirals against these viruses, to the utilization of molecular intervention as well as the development of DNA launched replicon based vaccines. In vivo efficacy of these antiviral approaches are also illustrated with murine models established for these viral infections. In this talk, I will illustrate with the human enteroviruses (EV-A71) that have important medical implications on the pediatric populations in Asia. Together, these studies have provided the basis for the development of effective antiviral approaches that can be clinically validated as viable antiviral strategies against these medically important viral pathogens.