Traditional Chinese medicines targeting influenza virus replication: research progress / 国际药学研究杂志

ABSTRACT

Influenza is a severe respiratory infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Due to the widespread prevalence, high morbidity and high mutation rate of influenza viruses, current anti-influenza drugs are not efficient and abundant. Development of novel anti-influenza virus agents is necessary and urgent nowadays. It is meaningful to investigate novel anti-influenza virus agents from traditional Chinese medicines, which is a great heritage and invaluable source for drug development. Though it is difficult to describe the mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicines clearly and comprehensively because of their characteristics of "multiple components and multiple targets", with more in-depth studies, many chemical constituents and action mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicines have been gradually reported nowadays. Most Chinese medicinal herbs could indirectly suppress influenza viruses and alleviate inflammation response via the regulation of cellular immune function of the host. However, studies on the traditional Chinese medicines that directly act on and target the influenza viruses are more complicated. Some of the traditional Chinese prescriptions, single traditional Chinese medicines and isolated compounds as well as their targets for the direct anti-influenza virus effects have been reported, including the familiar targets of hemagglutinin, neuraminidase, RNA polymerase, nucleoprotein complex and viral RNA, etc. This review summarizes the traditional Chinese prescriptions, single traditional Chinese medicines and isolated compounds, which show direct anti-influenza virus effects, in terms of their targets, so as to provide a reference for future studies.