ArticleNAR molecular medicine2025
Mechanism and spectrum of inhibition of viral polymerases by 2'-deoxy-2'-β-fluoro-4'-azidocytidine or azvudine.
Article in NAR molecular medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Substrate and target selectivity of 4'-fluoroadenosine against viral and host polymerases.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2026Article
- RNA with Azvudine Incorporated One Nucleotide Upstream of 3'-End Resists Cleavage by SARS-CoV-2 Proofreading Exonuclease.Research square · 2026Article
- DNA-dependent RNA polymerase incorporates β-D-N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC) linking Molnupiravir to host transcription-dependent mutagenesis.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2026Article
- NS5-targeting nucleoside analogs inhibit dengue virus and other flaviviruses.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The therapeutic value of antiviral nucleoside analogs was highlighted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with remdesivir and molnupiravir repurposed for their broad-spectrum antiviral activity. The cytidine analog azvudine (FNC) has recently gained attention as a potential treatment for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Considering the distinct substrate specificities of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) and SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), a unifying mechanism of inhibition remains elusive. Here, we assessed the inhibitory effects of FNC's active triphosphate form, FNC-TP, across several viral polymerases. The relative efficiency of FNC-TP incorporation followed the order: HIV-1 RT > hepatitis C virus (HCV) RdRp > respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) RdRp > dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2) RdRp ≫ SARS-CoV-2 RdRp. Its incorporation caused chain-termination in all polymerases tested. Antiviral activity against HIV-1 has previously been demonstrated and is here shown with DENV-2. Collectively, the data show that inhibition of viral polymerases by FNC-TP can translate to antiviral activity against both retroviruses and RNA viruses, but the link is not evident for SARS-CoV-2. FNC-TP is a poor substrate for SARS-CoV-2 RdRp, and FNC lacks significant antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture.
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.