Nucleic acid-based drugs against emerging zoonotic viruses

Global outbreaks of diseases caused by zoonotic viruses have steadily increased in recent years. Emerging zoonotic viruses are generally phylogenetically diverse, are unpredictable and are known to cause diseases with high case fatality rates in humans and are hard to protect against due to lack of approved antiviral drugs. The aim of this review is to discuss how advances in genomics, rational drug design and innate immune signaling can contribute to the design of nucleic acid-based drugs to combat these emerging threats. Specifically, the antiviral activity of siRNAs, antisense oligonucleotides is mediated by sequence-specific gene silencing, and broad-spectrum innate and antiviral immune responses can be elicited by toll-like receptor agonists. This review will summarize their current state of development, safety and efficacy, and provide perspectives on future development.