MOLECULAR MECHANISM OF OSELTAMIVIR AND OTHER LEAD COMPOUNDS TOWARDS INFLUENZA A VIRUS BASED ON PROTEOMICS AND TRANSCRIPTOMICS APPROACHES

The influenza A virus is one of the most dangerous pathogens threatening human life. One of the default treatments for influenza A virus is prescribing the drug oseltamivir. However, due to the mutation rate of influenza A as an RNA-based virus, there are tendencies of resistance toward oseltamivir. In this respect, novel approaches should be devised to ward off the menace of influenza A, mainly with modern proteomics- and transcriptomics-based methods. This review will first discuss the molecular mechanism of oseltamivir and the advantages and disadvantages of using it. Proteomics- and transcriptomics-based alternatives to oseltamivir will be described as well. Our proteomics-based computational approach has successfully produced some fine-grained designs, such as cyclic peptide-based, flavonoid-based, and amantadine-derivative leads. The focus going forward should be on the promising design of cyclic peptide because of its stability in our physiological system. At the same time, the availability of natural products based on the biodiversity database and the derivative products of the existing drug should not be overlooked. However, another approach is being developed as well, based upon the transcriptomics method, where, the coding and non-coding RNAs are utilized as drug candidates. The most common drug candidates in use are silencing (si)RNA, which is a short-strand, non-coding RNA. The issues plaguing RNA-based drugs are mainly the delivery mode to the target, as this molecule tends to be unstable in the cell. In this regard, the best approach always depends on the diagnostic results drawn by medical doctors. Despite all of this, oseltamivir remains the default medication for influenza A, in combination with other drugs such as zanamivir.