Drexel University College of Medicine

Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program

Email: na355@drexel.edu

Advisor: Ju-Tao Guo

Thesis Research Summary:

Flaviviruses are a class of enveloped, positive sense RNA viruses that replicate in the host cell cytoplasm. Members include West Nile virus, dengue virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus, and several other viruses which may cause encephalitis. One of the projects in current focus in our lab is to identify and validate the antiviral efficacy and selectivity of several novel imino sugar derivatives such as N-butyl-deoxynojirimycin and N-nonyl-deoxynojirimycin (NNDNJ) against flaviviruses. These compounds are glucose analogues that are known to selectively inhibit cellular α glucosidase I and II in the endoplasmic reticulum and thereby exhibit antiviral activity against several enveloped viruses. Following this observation, a whole family of imino sugar derivatives containing an oxygenated side chain and terminally restricted ring structures were synthesized, that have demonstrated lower cytotoxicity and increased anti-viral efficacy, against members of the Flaviviridae family, including bovine viral diarrhea virus, dengue virus (DENV), and West Nile virus. These derivatives appear to represent the best so far in their class and could prove to be realistic drug candidates against human DENV.