Antiviral properties of cage compounds. New prospects

The published data of the last 15 years on the antiviral activity and the mechanism of action of cage compounds are integrated and described systematically. The considerable interest in the cage compounds as antiviral agents is related to the specific features of the spatial structure of this class of derivatives and high lipophilicity and rigidity of the carbon cage, which allows these molecules to easily penetrate through the lipid layer of biological membranes. Data on the ion channel structure of influenza A and hepatitis C viruses and docking data for some cage structures to these channels are presented. Data on the antiviral properties of cage compounds against RNA genome viruses, the influenza A virus and its mutant strains, hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency viruses, and other RNA-containing viruses, are presented. The efficiency of cage compounds against the DNA-genome viruses, herpes virus, cytomegalovirus and orthopoxviruses, is demonstrated. The proven participation of aminoadamantanes in the suppression of early stages of the influenza virus life cycle suggests that efficient inhibitors of not only the influenza virus but also other RNA- and DNA-containing viruses could be found among the cage molecules.