Viral hemorrhagic fevers: advancing the level of treatment

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

The management of viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) has mainly focused on strict infection control measures, while standard clinical interventions that are provided to patients with other life-threatening conditions are rarely offered to patients with VHFs. Despite its complexity, a proper clinical case management of VHFs is neither futile nor is it lacking in scientific rationale. Given that patient outcomes improve when treatment is started as soon as possible, development and implementation of protocols to promptly identify and treat patients in the earliest phases of diseases are urgently needed. Different pharmacological options have been proposed to manage patients and, as for other life-threatening conditions, advanced life support has been proved effective to address multiorgan failure. In addition, high throughput screening of small molecular libraries has emerged as a novel promising way to find new candidates drugs for VHFs therapy and a relevant number of new molecules are currently under investigation. Here we discuss the current knowledge about VHF clinical management to propose a way to step up the approach to VHFs beyond the mere application of infection control measures.

Related collections

Most cited references 51

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

T-705 (favipiravir) and related compounds: Novel broad-spectrum inhibitors of RNA viral infections

Yousuke Furuta, Kazumi Takahashi, Kimiyasu Shiraki … (2009)

A series of pyrazinecarboxamide derivatives T-705 (favipiravir), T-1105 and T-1106 were discovered to be candidate antiviral drugs. These compounds have demonstrated good activity in treating viral infections in laboratory animals caused by various RNA viruses, including influenza virus, arenaviruses, bunyaviruses, West Nile virus (WNV), yellow fever virus (YFV), and foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Treatment has in some cases been effective when initiated up to 5–7 days after virus infection, when the animals already showed signs of illness. Studies on the mechanism of action of T-705 have shown that this compound is converted to the ribofuranosyltriphosphate derivative by host enzymes, and this metabolite selectively inhibits the influenza viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase without cytotoxicity to mammalian cells. Interestingly, these compounds do not inhibit host DNA and RNA synthesis and inosine 5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) activity. From in vivo studies using several animal models, the pyrazinecarboxamide derivatives were found to be effective in protecting animals from death, reducing viral burden, and limiting disease manifestations, even when treatment was initiated after virus inoculation. Importantly, T-705 imparts its beneficial antiviral effects without significant toxicity to the host. Prompt development of these compounds is expected to provide effective countermeasures against pandemic influenza virus and several bioweapon threats, all of which are of great global public health concern given the current paucity of highly effective broad-spectrum drugs.

0 comments Cited 166 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Postexposure protection of non-human primates against a lethal Ebola virus challenge with RNA interference: a proof-of-concept study

Thomas W. Geisbert, Amy Lee, Marjorie Robbins … (2010)

Summary Background We previously showed that small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeting the Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV) RNA polymerase L protein formulated in stable nucleic acid-lipid particles (SNALPs) completely protected guineapigs when administered shortly after a lethal ZEBOV challenge. Although rodent models of ZEBOV infection are useful for screening prospective countermeasures, they are frequently not useful for prediction of efficacy in the more stringent non-human primate models. We therefore assessed the efficacy of modified non-immunostimulatory siRNAs in a uniformly lethal non-human primate model of ZEBOV haemorrhagic fever. Methods A combination of modified siRNAs targeting the ZEBOV L polymerase (EK-1 mod), viral protein (VP) 24 (VP24-1160 mod), and VP35 (VP35-855 mod) were formulated in SNALPs. A group of macaques (n=3) was given these pooled anti-ZEBOV siRNAs (2 mg/kg per dose, bolus intravenous infusion) after 30 min, and on days 1, 3, and 5 after challenge with ZEBOV. A second group of macaques (n=4) was given the pooled anti-ZEBOV siRNAs after 30 min, and on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 after challenge with ZEBOV. Findings Two (66%) of three rhesus monkeys given four postexposure treatments of the pooled anti-ZEBOV siRNAs were protected from lethal ZEBOV infection, whereas all macaques given seven postexposure treatments were protected. The treatment regimen in the second study was well tolerated with minor changes in liver enzymes that might have been related to viral infection. Interpretation This complete postexposure protection against ZEBOV in non-human primates provides a model for the treatment of ZEBOV-induced haemorrhagic fever. These data show the potential of RNA interference as an effective postexposure treatment strategy for people infected with Ebola virus, and suggest that this strategy might also be useful for treatment of other emerging viral infections. Funding Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

0 comments Cited 156 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Treatment of Ebola virus infection with a recombinant inhibitor of factor VIIa/tissue factor: a study in rhesus monkeys.

George P. Vlasuk, Tom Larsen, Lisa Hensley … (2003)

Infection with the Ebola virus induces overexpression of the procoagulant tissue factor in primate monocytes and macrophages, suggesting that inhibition of the tissue-factor pathway could ameliorate the effects of Ebola haemorrhagic fever. Here, we tested the notion that blockade of fVIIa/tissue factor is beneficial after infection with Ebola virus. We used a rhesus macaque model of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, which produces near 100% mortality. We administered recombinant nematode anticoagulant protein c2 (rNAPc2), a potent inhibitor of tissue factor-initiated blood coagulation, to the macaques either 10 min (n=6) or 24 h (n=3) after a high-dose lethal injection of Ebola virus. Three animals served as untreated Ebola virus-positive controls. Historical controls were also used in some analyses. Both treatment regimens prolonged survival time, with a 33% survival rate in each treatment group. Survivors are still alive and healthy after 9 months. All but one of the 17 controls died. The mean survival for the six rNAPc2-treated macaques that died was 11.7 days compared with 8.3 days for untreated controls (p=0.0184). rNAPc2 attenuated the coagulation response as evidenced by modulation of various important coagulation factors, including plasma D dimers, which were reduced in nearly all treated animals; less prominent fibrin deposits and intravascular thromboemboli were observed in tissues of some animals that succumbed to Ebola virus. Furthermore, rNAPc2 attenuated the proinflammatory response with lower plasma concentrations of interleukin 6 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) noted in the treated than in the untreated macaques. Post-exposure protection with rNAPc2 against Ebola virus in primates provides a new foundation for therapeutic regimens that target the disease process rather than viral replication.

0 comments Cited 123 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Med

Title: BMC Medicine

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1741-7015

Publication date Collection: 2012

Publication date (Electronic): 29 March 2012

Volume: 10

Page: 31

Affiliations

[1 ]National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, Via Portuense 292 00149 Rome, Italy

[2 ]Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 903 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA

[3 ]Italian Health Cooperation, Piazzale della Farnesina 1 00135 Rome, Italy

Article

Publisher ID: 1741-7015-10-31

DOI: 10.1186/1741-7015-10-31

PMC ID: 3325866

PubMed ID: 22458265

SO-VID: b0094695-a2e7-4526-9947-881b560390da

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Viral hemorrhagic fevers: advancing the level of treatment

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Pediatric Pulse: Advancing Neonatal and Child Health

Most cited references 51

T-705 (favipiravir) and related compounds: Novel broad-spectrum inhibitors of RNA viral infections

Postexposure protection of non-human primates against a lethal Ebola virus challenge with RNA interference: a proof-of-concept study

Treatment of Ebola virus infection with a recombinant inhibitor of factor VIIa/tissue factor: a study in rhesus monkeys.

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 291

Cited by 21

Most referenced authors 722