The
 dengue virus and related flaviviruses are an increasing global health 
threat. In this perspective, we comment on and review medicinal 
chemistry efforts aimed at the prevention or treatment of dengue 
infections. We include target-based approaches aimed at viral or host 
factors and results from phenotypic screenings in cellular assay systems
 for viral replication. This perspective is limited to the discussion of
 results that provide explicit chemistry or structure–activity 
relationship (SAR), or appear to be of particular interest to the 
medicinal chemist for other reasons. The discovery and development 
efforts discussed here may at least partially be extrapolated toward 
other emerging flaviviral infections, such as West Nile virus. 
Therefore, this perspective, although not aimed at flaviviruses in 
general, should also be able to provide an overview of the medicinal 
chemistry of these closely related infectious agents.
 
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http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b01653
The Medicinal Chemistry of Dengue Virus
† Medicinal
Chemistry, Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology IPMB, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 364, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
§ Laboratory
of Organic Synthesis, Institute of Chemistry
of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Academiei 3, 2028 Chisinau, Moldova
 
J. Med. Chem., Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b01653
Publication Date (Web): January 15, 2016
Copyright © 2016 American Chemical Society
                        ACS Editors' Choice - This is an open access article published under an ACS AuthorChoice 
License, which permits copying and redistribution of the article or any adaptations for non-commercial purposes.
Biography 
Mira A. M. Behnam
 studied pharmacy and biotechnology at The German University in Cairo, 
where she obtained her B.Sc. degree (2009) and M.Sc. degree (2011) in 
Pharmaceutical Chemistry in collaboration with Würzburg University. 
Since 2013, she is DAAD scholarship holder and Ph.D. candidate in the 
group of Prof. Christian Klein (Heidelberg University) working on the 
development of potent antiviral compounds against dengue and West Nile 
virus.
Biography 
Christoph Nitsche
 studied chemistry and business administration. He obtained his Ph.D. on
 the development of dengue virus protease inhibitors under the guidance 
of Prof. Christian Klein at Heidelberg University with a scholarship 
from the German National Academic Foundation. Currently, he is working 
as a Feodor Lynen Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation) in the 
laboratory of Prof. Gottfried Otting at the Australian National 
University. His present research focuses on novel NMR methods for drug 
discovery.
Biography 
Veaceslav Boldescu
 studied pharmaceutical technology and obtained a Ph.D. in Technology of
 special products (pharmaceuticals) in 2008 under the guidance of Acad. 
Gheorghe Duca (Academy of Sciences of Moldova). He started his research 
pathway at the State University of Moldova and continued it at the 
Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, working in
 the Laboratory of Organic Synthesis lead by Prof. Fliur Macaev. His 
main research interests include development of new chemotherapeutic 
agents against infections such as tuberculosis and dengue.
Biography 
Christian D. Klein
 studied pharmacy and obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 
2000 under the guidance of Profs. Ulrike Holzgrabe (University of Bonn) 
and A. J. Hopfinger (UIC, Chicago). Following postdoctoral work at ETH 
Zürich, he became an Emmy Noether junior group leader. Since 2007, he is
 professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Heidelberg University. His 
main research interests are anti-infective compounds and fundamental 
questions in medicinal chemistry, such as the study of unusual binding 
modes and structural motifs.
 
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