Current challenges in the discovery of treatments against Mayaro fever

• Published in: Expert opinion on therapeutic targets Vol. 28; no. 5; p. 345
• Main Authors: Marques, Rafael Elias, Shimizu, Jacqueline Farinha, Nogueira, Maurício Lacerda, Vasilakis, Nikos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 03-05-2024
• Subjects: Alphavirus; Alphavirus Infections - drug therapy; Alphavirus Infections - virology; Animals; Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Arthralgia - drug therapy; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Development; Drug Discovery; Humans; Molecular Targeted Therapy; mayaro virus; arthritogenic disease; immunopathogenesis; infection models; candidate treatments; Antiviral compounds; compound screening technologies
• ISSN: 1744-7631
• DOI: 10.1080/14728222.2024.2351504

Mayaro fever is an emerging viral disease that manifests as an acute febrile illness. The disease is self-limiting, however joint pain can persist for months leading to chronic arthralgia. There is no specific treatment available, which ultimately leads to socioeconomic losses in populations at risk as well as strains to the public health systems.
We reviewed the candidate treatments proposed for Mayaro virus (MAYV) infection and disease, including antiviral compounds targeting viral or host mechanisms, and pathways involved in disease development and pathogenicity. We assessed compound screening technologies and experimental infection models used in these studies and indicated the advantages and limitations of available technologies and intended therapeutic strategies.
Although several compounds have been suggested as candidate treatments against MAYV infection, notably those with antiviral activity, most compounds were assessed only
. Compounds rarely progress to
or preclinical studies, and such difficulty may be associated with limited experimental models. MAYV biology is largely inferred from related alphaviruses and reflected by few studies focusing on target proteins or mechanisms of action for MAYV. Therapeutic strategies targeting pathogenic inflammatory responses have shown potential against MAYV-induced disease
, which might reduce long-term sequelae.