ABSTRACT
Dengue virus (DENV) is one of the most significant mosquito-borne viral pathogens that spread in the tropical and subtropical areas causing severe diseases in humans such as dengue fever (DF), dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). DENV RNA genome encodes three structural proteins and seven non-structural proteins. The non-structural protein 3 (NS3) contains two main functional domains: serine protease and RNA helicase. As a serine protease, NS3 together with host cell proteases can directly hydrolyze the ploy-protein that is translated from the viral genome into functional proteins. Functioning as a RNA helicase, it is closely related to the replication and transcriptional translation of the viral genome RNA. In this paper, the structure and functions of DENV NS3 and the research progress in related antiviral drugs were reviewed systematically.