ponesimod and Hepatitis-B

The discovery of novel antivirals to treat hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is urgently needed, as the currently available drugs mainly target viral proteins at replication step, whereas host factors also play significant roles in HBV infection. Although numerous studies have reported candidate drugs for HBV treatment, there remains a need to find a new drug that may target other steps of the HBV life cycle. In this study, by drug screening of a 533 G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)-associated compound library, we identified ponesimod, a selective agonist of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P

Topics: Antiviral Agents; DNA, Viral; Endosomes; HEK293 Cells; Hep G2 Cells; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatocytes; Humans; Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptors; Thiazoles; Virus Internalization; Virus Replication