Recent pandemics and outbreaks, such as 2009 Influenza A, 2016 Zika, COVID-19 and 2022/3 Monkeypox, highlight the requirement for expansion of the clinical toolbox for monitoring and treating viral infectious diseases in addition to vaccines. Against this backdrop, our persistent inability to develop effective treatments for virus infections remains a glaring gap of clinical medicine. This deficiency not only hinders our ability to provide care to patients afflicted by viral diseases, but also exposes a critical vulnerability in our capacity to prepare and respond effectively to the existing and emerging viral threats.
Despite the remarkable diversity of viruses that cause human diseases, spanning 26 distinct evolutionary families, the host's innate immune responses exhibit a striking ability to mount effective antiviral defenses against each of them. It is particularly noteworthy that many of these act through modulation of cellular metabolic processes. However, our comprehension of the metabolic constraints governing virus infections remains exceedingly sparse. Specifically, we lack knowledge regarding the metabolites essential for facilitating virus replication and their potential depletion as a limiting factor.
Project METIC evaluated antiviral strategies centered on broad-spectrum inhibition of viral methyltransferases both in terms of technical feasibility as well as provided fundamental supporting evidence for intellectual property protection. These are collectively required to further the preclinical pursuit of these antivirals and facilitate their potential clinical exploration.
