Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a well-known infant pathogen transmitted mainly by droplets. It is a leading cause of upper respiratory tract infections in children, usually with a mild course of illness. RSV has also been a threat to older people, especially those with underlying medical conditions. For a long time, prevention was limited to passive immunoprophylaxis with palivizumab for high-risk infants. There was a strong need to find other treatment or prevention methods against RSV infections. In addition, after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, some significant changes in RSV epidemiology have been observed. Researchers noticed the shift in RSV seasonality and age distribution and the increased number of cases in older infants and adults. All of these made the need to find other medical options even stronger. Fortunately, two protein-based vaccines against RSV have successfully passed all phases of clinical trials and have been approved for use by adults and older people. One of them is also approved for infants from birth to 6 months of age (after maternal immunisation during pregnancy) and for pregnant women between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. Also, a new passive immunisation option named nirsevimab (a highly potent monoclonal antibody with a long half-life) is now available for the paediatric group. In this review, we will discuss the previous and current RSV prevention methods in the light of structural discoveries of RSV antigens.

Resveratrol remains one of the most extensively studied plant-derived polyphenols because of its broad antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, and anticancer activities. However, its clinical translation has been substantially limited by its poor aqueous solubility, rapid phase II metabolism, and low systemic bioavailability, despite decades of intensive investigation. Structural modification through methoxylation has emerged as a promising strategy to overcome these pharmacokinetic limitations by enhancing metabolic stability, lipophilicity, membrane permeability, and biological activity. While considerable attention has focused on resveratrol and a limited number of established analogs, emerging methoxylated derivatives remain comparatively underexplored. This review highlights the structural characteristics, biological activities, and molecular mechanisms of two such derivatives, 4,4-(ethane-1,2-diyl)bis(2-methoxyphenol) (EG) and (Z)-3,5,4′-trimethoxystilbene (Z-TMS), and discusses evidence from structurally similar, better-characterized compounds that may aid in understanding their activities. Despite promising experimental findings, the therapeutic relevance of EG and Z-TMS remains insufficiently characterized because the available evidence is predominantly derived from in vitro studies, while data on toxicity, therapeutic index, long-term safety, pharmacodynamics, and clinically relevant systemic exposure remain limited. This review emphasizes the anticancer potential of these emerging methoxylated derivatives, identifies current knowledge gaps, and provides a basis for considering them as lead compounds for anticancer drug development.