The paramyxovirus family includes major human and animal pathogens, including measles virus, mumps virus, and human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), as well as the emerging zoonotic Hendra and Nipah viruses. In the U.S., RSV is the leading cause of infant hospitalizations due to viral infectious disease. Despite their clinical significance, effective drugs for the improved management of paramyxovirus disease are lacking. The development of novel anti-paramyxovirus therapeutics is therefore urgently needed. Paramyxoviruses contain RNA genomes of negative polarity, necessitating a virus-encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) complex for replication and transcription. Since an equivalent enzymatic activity is absent in host cells, the RdRp complex represents an attractive druggable target, although structure-guided drug development campaigns are hampered by the lack of high-resolution RdRp crystal structures. Here, we review the current structural and functional insight into the paramyxovirus polymerase complex in conjunction with an evaluation of the mechanism of activity and developmental status of available experimental RdRp inhibitors. Our assessment spotlights the importance of the RdRp complex as a premier target for therapeutic intervention and examines how high-resolution insight into the organization of the complex will pave the path toward the structure-guided design and optimization of much-needed next-generation paramyxovirus RdRp blockers.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 July 2017.
All research outputs
#6,417,450
of 22,803,211 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Microbiology
#6,552
of 24,751 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#76,393
of 264,485 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Microbiology
#91
of 381 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,803,211 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 70th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 24,751 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.3. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 264,485 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 381 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 75% of its contemporaries.
