Frontiers in Chemistry (Oct 2022)

Research progress on the antiviral activities of natural products and their derivatives: Structure–activity relationships

  • Yajing Guo,
  • Anna Ma,
  • Xinyan Wang,
  • Chen Yang,
  • Xi Chen,
  • Gen Li,
  • Feng Qiu,
  • Feng Qiu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2022.1005360
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Viruses spread rapidly and are well-adapted to changing environmental events. They can infect the human body readily and trigger fatal diseases. A limited number of drugs are available for specific viral diseases, which can lead to non-efficacy against viral variants and drug resistance, so drugs with broad-spectrum antiviral activity are lacking. In recent years, a steady stream of new viral diseases has emerged, which has prompted development of new antiviral drugs. Natural products could be employed to develop new antiviral drugs because of their innovative structures and broad antiviral activities. This review summarizes the progress of natural products in antiviral research and their bright performance in drug resistance issues over the past 2 decades. Moreover, it fully discusses the effect of different structural types of natural products on antiviral activity in terms of structure–activity relationships. This review could provide a foundation for the development of antiviral drugs.

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