Kinase inhibitors as underexplored antiviral agents

Abstract

Viral infections are a major health problem; therefore, there is an urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies.Antivirals used to target proteins encoded by the viral genome usually enhance drug resistance generated by the virus. A potentialsolution may be drugs acting at host-based targets since viruses are dependent on numerous cellular proteins and phosphorylationevents that are crucial during their life cycle. Repurposing existing kinase inhibitors as antiviral agents would help in the cost andeffectiveness of the process, but this strategy usually does not provide much improvement, and specific medicinal chemistryprograms are needed in thefield. Anyway, extensive use of FDA-approved kinase inhibitors has been quite useful in deciphering therole of host kinases in viral infection. The present perspective aims to review the state of the art of kinase inhibitors that target viralinfections in different development stages.