Introduction to Antiviral Chemotherapy and Classification

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Classification of Antiviral (Chemotherapy) Agents Lecture Outline: 1. Introduction to Antiviral Chemotherapy 2. Classification of Antiviral Agents by Mechanism of Action o Inhibitors of Viral Attachment and Entry o Inhibitors of Viral Uncoating o Nucleoside and Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs and NtRTIs) o Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs) o Inhibitors of DNA/RNA Polymerase o Protease Inhibitors (PIs) o Integrase Inhibitors o Neuraminidase Inhibitors o Host-Directed Antivirals 3. Chemical Structures and SAR of Selected Antiviral Agents 4. Future Directions and Challenges in Antiviral Therapy 5. Conclusion Introduction to Antiviral Chemotherapy Antiviral chemotherapy refers to the use of drugs that selectively inhibit viral replication without causing significant harm to the host. The primary challenge in antiviral drug development is that viruses lack independent metabolic machinery and rely on host cell components to replicate. This makes it difficult to design drugs that target the virus without also affecting host cellular functions, which can lead to toxicity and side effects. For example, bacteria can be targeted with antibiotics becau...