THE ERA OF ANTIVIRALS Introduction Although there are more than one hundred medically useful antibiotics and fungicides, there are only seven compounds licensed for use as antiviral agents, in the USA. Some of these (acyclovir and ganciclovir) are actually derivatives of each other, making the number of new discoveries even smaller. Moreover, most of these agents are of only limited therapeutic value and have substantial toxicity. It has been more than 100 years ago since Pasteur studied rabies virus (2) and Rous (4) showed that a small filterable agent (not bacteria) caused disease (sarcoma) in chickens. It was nearly 100 years ago that yellow fever virus, the first recognized human pathogenic virus, was unambiguously associated with disease (3). Enteroviruses were cultured for the first time nearly 50 years ago (1). Why then has effective chemotherapy against viruses lagged behind that of other microorganisms? Viruses are often difficult to grow and image. However, with the dynamic advances in molecular biology and increased sophistication in tissue culture, the field of virology has blossomed and resulted in improved methods for detection of virus infection. The use of viruses as models of gene regulation and replication has also resulted in a massive accumulation of information.

Springer Book Archives

Studies of Reovirus Pathogenesis Reveal Potential Sites for Antiviral Intervention.- Drugs as Molecular Tools.- Genetically Engineered Bacteria to Identify and Produce Antiviral Agents.- Antiviral Agents from Novel Marine and Terrestrial Sources.- Virus Receptors: The Achilles' Heel of Human Rhinoviruses.- Therapeutic Strategies Employing CD4, The HIV Receptor.- Molecular Characterization of HIV-2 (ROD) Protease following PCR Cloning from Virus Infected H9 Cells.- A Novel, Non-Nucleoside Inhibitor of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase (Review).- Catalytic Antisense RNA (Ribozymes): Their Potential and Use as Anti-HIV-1 Therapeutic Agents.- Therapies for Hepatitis B Virus: Current Status and Future Possiblities.- A Preliminary Report of a Controlled Study of Thymosin Alpha-1 in the Woodchuck Model of Hepadnavirus Infection.- Delta Virus as a Vector for the Delivery of Biologically Active RNAs: Possibly a Ribozyme Specific for Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection.- Inhibition of Herpes Simplex Virus Ribonucleotide Reductase by Synthetic Nonapeptides: A Potential Antiviral Therapy.- Antiviral Effects of Herpes Simplex Virus Specific Anti-Sense Nucleic Acids.- Heterogeneity of a Herpes Simplex Virus Clinical Isolate Exhibiting Resistance to Acyclovir and Foscarnet.- Cellular Metabolism and Enzymatic Phosphorylation of 9-(2-Phosphonylmethoxyethyl) Guanine (PMEG), a Potential Antiviral Agent.- Effect of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Infection on Cytokine Gene Expression in Activated Murine Peritoneal Macrophages.- Procedure for Evaluation of Neutralizing Antibody to Cytomegalovirus in Commercial Intravenous Gamma Globulin Preparations.- Improved Detection of Antibodies to Hepatitis C Virus Using a Second Generation ELISA.- Emerging Trends in the Rapid Detection of Viruses.- DNAProbes for Viral Diagnosis.- Contributors.