Nanovaccine: A hope to triumph the battle against novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Author(s):  
Anurag Singh ◽  
Anand Maurya ◽  
Gaurav Mishra ◽  
Rajendra Awasthi ◽  
Kamal Dua ◽  
...  

Background: The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection has caused the global emergence of coronavirus in humans during the last 12 months. Till May 11, 2021, the confirmed global COVID-19 cases and deaths reached 158551526 and 3296855, respectively. Methods: Goblet cells and ciliated cells in the nose act as the initial infection site of SARS-CoV-2. Thus, mucus immunity is important to protect from infection. The outburst of SARS-CoV-2 infection can be halted only when an effective vaccine will be developed. Results: Globally, over 100 different vaccines are under investigation, including DNA vaccines, RNA vaccines, inactivated virus vaccines, adenovirus-based vaccines, recombinant/ subunit protein vaccines, peptide vaccines, and virus-like particles etc. Inactivated virus vaccines and mRNA, and adenovirus-based vaccines have moved fast into clinical trials. Conclusion: : Vaccines containing spike protein of SARS-CoV as subunit could effectively prevent binding of coronavirus to the host cell and membrane fusion. Thus, spike protein can be used as a major target for subunit vaccine preparation.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingyu Zhao ◽  
Yanan Gao ◽  
Min Xiao ◽  
Xuefei Huang ◽  
Xuanjun Wu

For prevention of the coronavirus disease 2019 caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, an effective vaccine is critical. Herein, several potential peptide epitopes from the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 have...


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Atin Khalaj-Hedayati

The recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has highlighted the threat that highly pathogenic coronaviruses have on global health security and the imminent need to design an effective vaccine for prevention purposes. Although several attempts have been made to develop vaccines against human coronavirus infections since the emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003, there is no available licensed vaccine yet. A better understanding of previous coronavirus vaccine studies may help to design a vaccine for the newly emerged virus, SARS-CoV-2, that may also cover other pathogenic coronaviruses as a potentially universal vaccine. In general, coronavirus spike protein is the major antigen for the vaccine design as it can induce neutralizing antibodies and protective immunity. By considering the high genetic similarity between SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, here, protective immunity against SARS-CoV spike subunit vaccine candidates in animal models has been reviewed to gain advances that can facilitate coronavirus vaccine development in the near future.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Zhi-Ling Zhu ◽  
Xiao-Dan Qiu ◽  
Shuo Wu ◽  
Yi-Tong Liu ◽  
Ting Zhao ◽  
...  

The novel coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV) has been affecting global health since the end of 2019, and there is no sign that the epidemic is abating. Targeting the interaction between the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor is a promising therapeutic strategy. In this study, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was used as the primary method to screen a library of 960 compounds. A compound 02B05 (demethylzeylasteral, CAS number: 107316-88-1) that had high affinities for S-RBD and ACE2 was discovered, and binding affinities (KD, μM) of 02B05-ACE2 and 02B05-S-RBD were 1.736 and 1.039 μM, respectively. The results of a competition experiment showed that 02B05 could effectively block the binding of S-RBD to ACE2 protein. Furthermore, pseudovirus infection assay revealed that 02B05 could inhibit entry of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus into 293T cells to a certain extent at nontoxic concentration. The compoundobtained in this study serve as references for the design of drugs which have potential in the treatment of COVID-19 and can thus accelerate the process of developing effective drugs to treat SARS-CoV-2 infections.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1936
Author(s):  
Yi-Sheng Sun ◽  
Jing-Jing Zhou ◽  
Han-Ping Zhu ◽  
Fang Xu ◽  
Wen-Bin Zhao ◽  
...  

The novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) pandemic is a great threat to human society and now is still spreading. Although several vaccines have been authorized for emergency use, only one recombinant subunit vaccine has been permitted for widespread use. More subunit vaccines for COVID-19 should be developed in the future. The receptor binding domain (RBD), located at the S protein of SARS-CoV-2, contains most of the neutralizing epitopes. However, the immunogenicity of RBD monomers is not strong enough. In this study, we fused the RBD-monomer with a modified Fc fragment of human IgG1 to form an RBD-Fc fusion protein. The recombinant vaccine candidate based on the RBD-Fc protein could induce high levels of IgG and neutralizing antibody in mice, and these could last for at least three months. The secretion of IFN-γ, IL-2 and IL-10 in the RBD-stimulated splenocytes of immunized mice also increased significantly. Our results first showed that the RBD-Fc vaccine could induce both humoral and cellular immune responses and might be an optional strategy to control COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quenisha Baldwin ◽  
Bobby G Sumpter ◽  
Eleni Panagiotou

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infects human cells using a mechanism that involves binding and structural rearrangement of its spike protein. Understanding protein rearrangement and identifying specific residues where mutations affect protein rearrangement has attracted a lot of attention for drug development. We use a mathematical method introduced in [9] to associate a local topological/geometrical free energy along the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein backbone. Our results show that the total local topological free energy of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein monotonically decreases from pre-to post-fusion and that its distribution along the protein domains is related to their activity in protein rearrangement. By using density functional theory (DFT) calculations with inclusion of solvent effects, we show that high local topological free energy conformations are unstable compared to those of low topological free energy. By comparing to experimental data, we find that the high local topological free energy conformations in the spike protein are associated with mutations which have the largest experimentally observed effect to protein rearrangement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-107
Author(s):  
Sultan M. Faheem ◽  
Jancie D’Mello ◽  
Sultan M. Kaleem ◽  
Burra V. L. S. Prasad ◽  
Khalid Siddiqui

With the onset of the novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) that emerged from Wuhan in China, the need of the hour can be summarized into two groups. The first one is a potent vaccine as a prophylactic measure to prevent the virus from infecting people, and the second is a rapid diagnosis of the disease to help healthcare professionals and government authorities to plan and control the spread and provide effective care and treatment. This review delves into the latter, describing the COVID-19 and its treatment, including the race for an effective vaccine, and highlighting the role of serological testing in managing the pandemic since a well-designed study to understand mechanisms and serological correlations of protective immunity is crucial for rational clinical and public health policies. In conclusion, swift vaccination and response tactics, such as social distancing, hand hygiene, wearing of masks, and, if required, lockdown practices continue to be important in managing the pandemic while carefully monitoring any possible outbreak due to the variants.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zarrin Basharat ◽  
Muhammad Jahanzaib ◽  
Noor Rahman ◽  
Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan ◽  
Azra Yasmin

Abstract Recent infections caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) have led to global panic and mortality. Here, we analyzed the spike (S) protein of this virus using bioinformatics tools. We aimed to determine relative changes among different coronavirus species over the past two decades and to understand the conservation of the S-protein. Representative sequences of coronaviruses were collected from humans and other animals between 2000 and 2020. Evolutionary analyses found that the S-protein did not evolve overnight, but rather continuously over time. Post-translational modification (PTM) analysis using online tools and virtual screening of S-protein against a phytochemical database of Ayurvedic medicinal compounds (n = 2103) identified the S-protein inhibitors. Among these, top ranked were Gingerol (IUPAC name: 4'-Me ether, 3,5-di-Ac 3,5-di-Gingerdiols), 1-(5-Butyltetrahydro-2-furanyl)-2-hexacosanone and Ginsenoyne N ginseng that stimulates Caspase-3, Caspase-8, and the immune system. Gingerol is found in the fresh ginger and has reputation of being a potent antiviral. These compounds might prove useful to design drugs against COVID-19.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saroj Kumar Panda ◽  
Parth Sarthi Sen Gupta ◽  
Satyaranjan Biswal ◽  
Abhik Kumar Ray ◽  
Malay Kumar Rana

<p>SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus causing overwhelming death and infection worldwide, has emerged as a pandemic. Compared to its predecessor SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 is more infective for being highly contagious and exhibiting tighter binding with host angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE-2). The entry of the virus into host cells is mediated by the interaction of its spike protein with hACE-2. Thus, a peptide that has a resemblance to hACE-2 but can overpower the spike protein-hACE-2 interaction will be a potential therapeutic to contain this virus. The non-interacting residues in the receptor-binding domain of hACE-2 have been mutated to generate a library of 136 new peptides. Out of this library, docking and virtual screening discover seven peptides that can exert a stronger interaction with the spike protein than hACE-2. A peptide derived from simultaneous mutation of all the non-interacting residues of hACE-2 yields two-fold stronger interaction than hACE-2 and thus turns out here to be the best peptide-inhibitor of the novel coronavirus. The binding of the spike protein and the best peptide-inhibitor with hACE-2 is explored further by molecular dynamics, free energy, and principal component analysis to demonstrate its efficacy. Further, the inhibition assay study with the best peptide inhibitor is in progress. </p>


Author(s):  
Ortensia Ilaria Parisi ◽  
Marco Dattilo ◽  
Francesco Patitucci ◽  
Rocco Malivindi ◽  
Vincenzo Pezzi ◽  
...  

Summary of the ideaOur idea is focused on the development of “monoclonal-type” plastic antibodies based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) able to selectively bind a portion of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to block its function and, thus, the infection process. Molecular Imprinting, indeed, represents a very promising and attractive technology for the synthesis of MIPs characterized by specific recognition abilities for a target molecule. Given these characteristics, MIPs can be considered tailor-made synthetic antibodies obtained by a templating process.In the present study, the developed imprinted polymeric nanoparticles were characterized in terms of particles size and distribution by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and the imprinting effect and selectivity were investigated by performing binding experiments using the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the novel coronavirus and the RBD of SARS-CoV spike protein, respectively. Finally, the hemocompatibility of the prepared MIP-based plastic antibodies was also evaluated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Nimavat ◽  
Chandrashekar Mootapally ◽  
Neelam M. Nathani ◽  
Devyani Dave ◽  
Mukesh N. Kher ◽  
...  

Humankind has suffered many pandemics in history including measles, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and recently the novel Coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. As of September 2021, it has affected over 200 million people and caused over 4 million deaths. India is the second most affected country in the world. Up to this date, more than 38 Lakh viral genomes have been submitted to public repositories like GISAID and NCBI to analyze the virus phylogeny and mutations. Here, we analyzed 2349 genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 submitted in GISAID by a single institute pertaining to infections from the Gujarat state to know their variants and phylogenetic distributions with a major focus on the spike protein. More than 93% of the genomes had one or more mutations in the spike glycoprotein. The D614G variant in spike protein is reported to have a very high frequency of &gt;95% globally followed by the L452R and P681R, thus getting significant attention. The antigenic propensity of a small peptide of 29 residues from 597 to 625 of the spike protein variants having D614 and G614 showed that G614 has a little higher antigenic propensity. Thus, the D614G is the cause for higher viral antigenicity, however, it has not been reported to be effective to be causing more deaths.


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