Structure and inhibition of EV-D68, a virus that causes respiratory illness in children.

Liu Y, Sheng J, Fokine A, Meng G, Shin WH, Long F, Kuhn RJ, Kihara D, Rossmann MG.

Citation

Liu Y, Sheng J, Fokine A, Meng G, Shin WH, Long F, Kuhn RJ, Kihara D, Rossmann MG. (2015) Structure and inhibition of EV-D68, a virus that causes respiratory illness in children. Science 347(6217):71-74.

Abstract

Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is a member of Picornaviridae and is a causative agent of recent outbreaks of respiratory illness in children in the United States. We report here the crystal structures of EV-D68 and its complex with pleconaril, a capsid-binding compound that had been developed as an anti-rhinovirus drug. The hydrophobic drug-binding pocket in viral protein 1 contained density that is consistent with a fatty acid of about 10 carbon atoms. This density could be displaced by pleconaril. We also showed that pleconaril inhibits EV-D68 at a half-maximal effective concentration of 430 nanomolar and might, therefore, be a possible drug candidate to alleviate EV-D68 outbreaks.