Biosynthetic enzymes of the SARS-CoV-2 as potential targets for the discovery of new antiviral drugs

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has raised a major global health concern. This urgent situation is pressing the world to respond with the development of novel vaccine or small molecule therapeutics for SARS-CoV-2. Drug repurposing screening is regarded as one of the most practical and rapid approaches for the discovery of such therapeutics. Direct-acting agents, targeting specific viral enzymes that play an essential role in viral replication, represent a milestone in antiviral therapy. Several biosynthetic enzymes of the SARS-CoV-2 were analyzed as potential targets to develop new therapeutic drugs. This work provides a basis and directions for future drug development and reuse on the protein level of COVID-19.

Download Full-text

Plasma therapy a possible hope to fight against COVID-19

10.35543/osf.io/yhq7v ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ravikant Piyush ◽

Aroni Chatterjee ◽

Shashikant Ray

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Viral Disease ◽

Plasma Therapy ◽

Therapeutic Drugs ◽

Wild Fire ◽

The World ◽

Short Span ◽

Game Changer

The world is currently going through a disastrous event and a catastrophic upheaval caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The pandemic has resulted in loss of more than 150000 deaths across the globe. Originating from China and spreading across all continents within a short span of time, it has become a matter of international emergency. Different agencies are adopting diverse approaches to stop and spread of this viral disease but still now nothing confirmatory has come up. Due to lack of vaccines and proper therapeutic drugs, the disease is still spreading like wild fire without control. An Old but very promising method- the convalescent plasma therapy could be the key therapy to stop this pandemic. This method has already proven its mettle on several occasions previously and has been found to be effective in curing the pandemics induced by Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) belongs to the same group of β-Coronavirus that has resulted in the above diseases. Therefore, the role of plasma therapy is being explored for treatment of this disease. In this review, we have mainly focused on the role of convalescent plasma therapy and why its use should be promoted in fight against COVID-19, as it could turn out to be a game changer.

Download Full-text

COVID-19 Drug Discovery Using Intensive Approaches

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms21082839 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (8) ◽

pp. 2839 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Ayumu Asai ◽

Masamitsu Konno ◽

Miyuki Ozaki ◽

Chihiro Otsuka ◽

Andrea Vecchione ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Rna Viruses ◽

Drug Repurposing ◽

Global Scale ◽

Therapeutic Agents ◽

Clinical Development ◽

World Health ◽

Antiviral Therapies ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization

Since the infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was reported in China during December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread on a global scale, causing the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue a warning. While novel vaccines and drugs that target SARS-CoV-2 are under development, this review provides information on therapeutics which are under clinical trials or are proposed to antagonize SARS-CoV-2. Based on the information gained from the responses to other RNA coronaviruses, including the strains that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronaviruses and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), drug repurposing might be a viable strategy. Since several antiviral therapies can inhibit viral replication cycles or relieve symptoms, mechanisms unique to RNA viruses will be important for the clinical development of antivirals against SARS-CoV-2. Given that several currently marketed drugs may be efficient therapeutic agents for severe COVID-19 cases, they may be beneficial for future viral pandemics and other infections caused by RNA viruses when standard treatments are unavailable.

Download Full-text

Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants: A Review of Its Mutations, Its Implications and Vaccine Efficacy

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9101195 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 1195

Author(s):

Sindhu Ramesh ◽

Manoj Govindarajulu ◽

Rachel S. Parise ◽

Logan Neel ◽

Tharanath Shankar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Vaccine Efficacy ◽

Severe Disease ◽

The United States ◽

Health Concern ◽

Close Monitoring ◽

The World ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Significant Health

The widespread increase in multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants is causing a significant health concern in the United States and worldwide. These variants exhibit increased transmissibility, cause more severe disease, exhibit evasive immune properties, impair neutralization by antibodies from vaccinated individuals or convalescence sera, and reinfection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified SARS-CoV-2 variants into variants of interest, variants of concern, and variants of high consequence. Currently, four variants of concern (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, and B.1.617.2) and several variants of interests (B.1.526, B.1.525, and P.2) are characterized and are essential for close monitoring. In this review, we discuss the different SARS-CoV-2 variants, emphasizing variants of concern circulating the world and highlight the various mutations and how these mutations affect the characteristics of the virus. In addition, we discuss the most common vaccines and the various studies concerning the efficacy of these vaccines against different variants of concern.

Download Full-text

The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concern

The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries ◽

10.3855/jidc.12671 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (03) ◽

pp. 254-264 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Carlo Contini ◽

Mariachiara Di Nuzzo ◽

Nicole Barp ◽

Aurora Bonazza ◽

Roberto De Giorgio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Southern China ◽

Spillover Effect ◽

Severe Pneumonia ◽

Guangdong Province ◽

Health Concern ◽

Economic Losses ◽

The Novel ◽

The World

18 years ago, in 2002, the world was astonished by the appearance of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), supported by a zoonotic coronavirus, called SARS-CoV, from the Guangdong Province of southern China. After about 10 years, in 2012, another similar coronavirus triggered the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia. Both caused severe pneumonia killing 774 and 858 people with 8700 cases of confirmed infection for the former, and 2494 for the latter, causing significant economic losses. 8 years later, despite the MERS outbreak remaining in certain parts of the world, at the end of 2019, a new zoonotic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and responsible of coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), arose from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. It spread rapidly and to date has killed 3,242 persons with more than 81,000 cases of infection in China and causing over 126,000 global cases and 5,414 deaths in 166 other countries around the world, especially Italy. SARS-CoV-2 would seem to have come from a bat, but the intermediate reservoir continues to be unknown. Nonetheless, as for SARS-CoV and MERS CoV, the Spillover effect linked to animal-human promiscuity, human activities including deforestation, illegal bush-trafficking and bushmeat, cannot be excluded. Recently, however, evidence of inter-human only transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been accumulated and thus, the outbreak seems to be spreading by human-to-human transmission throughout a large part of the world. Herein we will provide with an update on the main features of COVID-19 and suggest possible solutions how to halt the expansion of this novel pandemic.

Download Full-text

A STUDY ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE TIMES OF COVID-19

International Journal for Research in Engineering Application & Management ◽

10.35291/2454-9150.2020.0469 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 227-230

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Crucial Role ◽

Essential Role ◽

The World ◽

The Times ◽

Death Cases

the COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) has already taken pandemic portion of the world by spreading more than 100 countries considerably within few weeks. And created devastation on the human civilization. So, the precise and expeditious diagnosis of COVID-19 cases plays a crucial role in timely quarantine and Healthcare, which requires the support of decisive technology like Artificial Intelligence. In this paper I am presenting a study on AI based methodologies that are being widely used in various applications in the battle against the deadly coronavirus outbreak and summarises the crucial roles of AI in this unusual fight. This outcome driven technology is applied in number of areas where AI plays an essential role from screening, analysing and diagnosing the risk to detect the cluster of cases. It can also be used to predict the cases in future and also be applied to keep track of number of current cases, recovered cases and death cases. The technologies based on artificial intelligence are applied for the delivery of exceptional services like discovery of medicines for cure, replacing man power at hospitals by AI based robots for serving medicines and food, disinfecting surfaces, in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak.

Download Full-text

Convalescent plasma therapy: a promising coronavirus disease 2019 treatment strategy

Open Biology ◽

10.1098/rsob.200174 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 200174 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ravikant Piyush ◽

Keshav Rajarshi ◽

Rajni Khan ◽

Shashikant Ray

Keyword(s):

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

World Health ◽

H1n1 Pandemic ◽

Plasma Therapy ◽

Therapeutic Drugs ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

Almost All ◽

Day By Day

The world is passing through a very difficult phase due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has disrupted almost all spheres of life. Globally, according to the latest World Health Organization report (10 August 2020), COVID-19 has affected nearly 20 million lives, causing 728 013 deaths. Due to the lack of specific therapeutic drugs and vaccines, the outbreak of disease has spawned a corpus of contagious infection all over the world, day by day, without control. As the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has a very rapid infection rate, it is essential to develop a novel ameliorative and curative strategy as quickly as possible. Convalescent plasma (CP) therapy is a type of adaptive immunity that has already been found to be effective in confronting several infectious diseases from the last two decades. For example, CP therapy was used in the treatment of viral-induced diseases like SARS-CoV epidemics, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) pandemics, Ebola epidemics and H1N1 pandemic. In this review, we have mainly focused on the therapeutic role of CP therapy and its neutralizing effect to fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.

Download Full-text

EFFECTS OF NOVEL CORONAVIRUS DISEASE-19 (COVID-19) ON VITAL ORGANS IN PATIENTS INFECTED WITH SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS-2 (SARS-COV-2)

Universal Journal of Pharmaceutical Research ◽

10.22270/ujpr.v6i2.574 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

M. Ibrahim Hossain ◽

Esha Binte Shahriar ◽

Anamika Sarker ◽

Nafisa Lubna ◽

Mehjabeen Haque ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Peer Review ◽

Cell Surface Receptor ◽

World Health ◽

Health Concern ◽

The World ◽

Surface Receptor ◽

Review Reports ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Health Organization

The world is now facing one of the most devastating public health concern where the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is spreading all over the world initiating from Wuhan, China, started from December, 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) already announced the situation as pandemic all over the world. According to the webpage of WHO, this SARS-CoV-2 has been spreading all over the world (223 countries, areas or territories) with 126,890,643 of confirmed cases and 2,778,619 of confirmed deaths(as time of March 30, 2021). Accumulated published documents indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 virus primarily affects the lungs causing hypoxia which is the leading cause of death. There are many reports describing that with the progress of this disease, many other organs (such as heart, kidney, liver, brain) of the affected person start to malfunction. Though SARS-CoV-2 uses the cell surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) expressed by lungs, cardiovascular system, kidneys but it is still not clear except lungs all these other organs are directly affected by this virus or not. Therefore, the aim of this review is to gather information about the affected/damaged organs or tissues and the consequences of this damage in the COVID-19 patients. Peer Review History: Received 11 March 2021; Revised 8 April; Accepted 23 April, Available online 15 May 2021 UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file: Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 6.0/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.0/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Dr. Vanina Doris Edo’o, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroun, [email protected] Idoko Alexander, Caritas University, Enugu, Nigeria, [email protected] Similar Articles: COVID-19: PHARMACOLOGICAL AND THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES USE OF COLCHICINE TO COUNTERACT THE STRONG HYPERINFLAMMATORY STATE INDUCED BY SARS-COV-2 THE RISKS AND ADVANTAGES OF ANTI-DIABETES THERAPY IN THE POSITIVE COVID-19 PATIENT

Download Full-text

The Coronavirus Pandemic: What Does the Evidence Show?

Journal of Nepal Health Research Council ◽

10.33314/jnhrc.v18i1.2596 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Shishir Paudel ◽

Ganesh Dangal ◽

Anisha Chalise ◽

Tulsi Ram Bhandari ◽

Ojash Dangal

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Severe Disease ◽

Etiologic Agent ◽

Human Infection ◽

Response Strategy ◽

Health Concern ◽

Global Public Health ◽

Outbreak Response ◽

The World

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly emerged disease that has become a global public health concern as it rapidly spread around the world. The etiologic agent responsible for this disease has been named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses as it shows similar genomic features to that of SARS-CoV which caused a pandemic in 2002. This disease first appeared in Hubei province of China and it follows human-to-human transmission but the path this virus took to set up human infection remains a mystery. By 17 April 2020, globally there have been 2,074,529 confirmed cases with 139,378 deaths because of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 shows several similarities with SARS?CoV, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) with its clinical presentations. This can vary from asymptomatic infection to severe disease and mortality. Real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) screening is considered as the standard laboratory test for the diagnosis of COVID-19. There is no proven antiviral agent against SARS-CoV-2 so the treatment for COVID-19 is symptomatic, aiming for the management of the symptoms and prevention of the complications. The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to the implementation of extraordinary public health measures throughout the world. Numerous antiviral compounds used to treat other infections are being clinically researched to find possible treatment. Similarly, the traditional public health outbreak response strategy of isolation, quarantine, social distancing and community containment has been implemented in multiple countries and has played an important role in the prevention of new outbreaks. This review aims to enhance our understanding of COVID 19.Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; novel coronavirus 2019; severe acute respiratory syndrome-2

Download Full-text

Dengue infection during Covid-19 pandemic: A challenge for case management

Bangladesh Medical Research Council Bulletin ◽

10.3329/bmrcb.v46i2.49026 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 145-146

Author(s):

Md Asaduzzaman Miah

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Dengue Infection ◽

World Health ◽

Health Concern ◽

Global Burden ◽

Public Health Concern ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has been caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) that declared as an global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).1,2 This ongoing pandemic causes devastation across the world while multiple countries have been facing with another outbreak- Dengue, a known tropical disease.3 Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral infection, also considered as a major public health concern. During COVID-19 pandemic, the increasing incidence of dengue become a further threat especially in the dengue-endemic countries of Southeast Asia and Latin America.4 The global burden of dengue is dynamic, estimated 50 million real cases per year across approximately 100 countries.5 Currently, most of the countries are fighting against COVID-19, therefore, further outbreak of dengue has been posed a number of practical challenges to combat the diseases simultaneously. As dengue cases have been increased during Covid-19 pandemic, both SARS‑CoV‑2 and dengue viruses are co-existing and co-circulating in the environment. Consequently, patients with SARS‑CoV‑2 and dengue co-infection has been reported recently in several countries like Singapore, Thailand, India, and Bangladesh.6-9 Hence, it is speculated that the co-infection cases will be increased and found in another countries in the upcoming days when dengue season goes in its peak. Currently, multiple countries in South America like Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia are suffering seriously from co-epidemics of dengue and Covid-19.4 Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull 2020; 46(2): 145-146

Download Full-text

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Control between Drug Repurposing and Vaccination: A Comprehensive Overview

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9111317 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 1317

Author(s):

Ahmed A. Al-Karmalawy ◽

Raya Soltane ◽

Ayman Abo Elmaaty ◽

Mohamed A. Tantawy ◽

Samar A. Antar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Continuous Monitoring ◽

Specific Treatment ◽

Drug Repurposing ◽

Health Concern ◽

Public Health Concern ◽

Comprehensive Overview ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

The World ◽

Repurposed Drugs ◽

The Impact

Respiratory viruses represent a major public health concern, as they are highly mutated, resulting in new strains emerging with high pathogenicity. Currently, the world is suffering from the newly evolving severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This virus is the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a mild-to-severe respiratory tract infection with frequent ability to give rise to fatal pneumonia in humans. The overwhelming outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 continues to unfold all over the world, urging scientists to put an end to this global pandemic through biological and pharmaceutical interventions. Currently, there is no specific treatment option that is capable of COVID-19 pandemic eradication, so several repurposed drugs and newly conditionally approved vaccines are in use and heavily applied to control the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergence of new variants of the virus that partially or totally escape from the immune response elicited by the approved vaccines requires continuous monitoring of the emerging variants to update the content of the developed vaccines or modify them totally to match the new variants. Herein, we discuss the potential therapeutic and prophylactic interventions including repurposed drugs and the newly developed/approved vaccines, highlighting the impact of virus evolution on the immune evasion of the virus from currently licensed vaccines for COVID-19.

Download Full-text