Novel hemagglutinin-based influenza virus inhibitors

Influenza virus has caused seasonal epidemics and worldwide pandemics, which caused tremendous loss of human lives and socioeconomics. Nowadays, only two classes of anti-influenza drugs, M2 ion channel inhibitors and neuraminidase inhibitors respectively, are used for prophylaxis and treatment of influenza virus infection. Unfortunately, influenza virus strains resistant to one or all of those drugs emerge frequently. Hemagglutinin (HA), the glycoprotein in influenza virus envelope, plays a critical role in viral binding, fusion and entry processes. Therefore, HA is a promising target for developing anti-influenza drugs, which block the initial entry step of viral life cycle. Here we reviewed recent understanding of conformational changes of HA in protein folding and fusion processes, and the discovery of HA-based influenza entry inhibitors, which may provide more choices for preventing and controlling potential pandemics caused by multi-resistant influenza viruses.