Antiviral: is a drug or treatment that blocks a virus from making copies of itself inside a cell.
Broad-spectrum antiviral: is an antiviral that is effective against a variety of different viruses.
Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress: ER is an important organelle in cells responsible for protein synthesis, protein processing post-synthesis and Ca2+ storage. In certain conditions, such as during virus infection, the ER undergoes functional changes (loosely described as ER stress) to counter the adverse effects of infection manifested as disruption to normal protein production leading to the accumulation of incompletely formed proteins, a phenomenon that will trigger an unfolded protein response (UPR).
Host-centric: refers to the origin of antiviral activities as coming from host cells.
Immune response: is a physiological response within a host organism characterised by inflammation, and specific antibody and cellular response from specialised immune cells to neutralise an invasion by microorganisms including viruses.
Immunomodulator: is a substance that modifies or moderates the immune response to help the body respond to an infection, such as in dampening down excessive inflammation.
Translation: is the synthesis of proteins in cells based on messenger RNA (mRNA) as reference template.
Transcription: is the synthesis of RNA in cells based on genomic DNA as reference template.
Unfolded protein response (UPR): is a physiological cellular response to abnormal load of incompletely processed/folded proteins. UPR is manifested in multiple ways, such as by increasing the folding capacity of the ER and removing unfolded proteins. UPR is also an innate antiviral response. If the UPR is successful at reducing the number of unfolded proteins, protein processing/folding balance is restored to normal and UPR is inactivated. However, if the UPR is unsuccessful, cell death may ensure.
Vaccine: is a substance that contains components of an infectious agent, made non-viable, that is put into the body of a person or animal to trigger a host immune response to protect against a future infection caused by the same agent. A vaccine cannot be used to treat an active infection.
Virus-centric/directed: refers to the direct targeting of a virus by an antiviral.
Virus replication: is the making of multiple copies of a virus inside a host cell.