Recent Developments in the Use of Kinase Inhibitors for Management of Viral Infections

J Med Chem. 2022 Jan 27;65(2):893-921. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c01467. Epub 2021 Feb 4.

Abstract

Kinases are a group of therapeutic targets involved in the progression of numerous diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and viral infections. The majority of approved antiviral agents are inhibitors of virus-specific targets that are encoded by individual viruses. These inhibitors are narrow-spectrum agents that can cause resistance development. Viruses are dependent on host cellular proteins, including kinases, for progression of their life-cycle. Thus, targeting kinases is an important therapeutic approach to discovering broad-spectrum antiviral agents. As there are a large number of FDA approved kinase inhibitors for various indications, their repurposing for viral infections is an attractive and time-sparing strategy. Many kinase inhibitors, including baricitinib, ruxolitinib, imatinib, tofacitinib, pacritinib, zanubrutinib, and ibrutinib, are under clinical investigation for COVID-19. Herein, we discuss FDA approved kinase inhibitors, along with a repertoire of clinical/preclinical stage kinase inhibitors that possess antiviral activity or are useful in the management of viral infections.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
  • COVID-19 / virology
  • COVID-19 Drug Treatment
  • Drug Approval / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Drug Repositioning
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Humans
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
  • SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification
  • United States
  • United States Food and Drug Administration
  • Virus Diseases / drug therapy*

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors