scholarly journals Assembling an Anti-COVID-19 Artillery in the Battle against the New Coronavirus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chanda Siddoo-Atwal

The panic and confusion surrounding the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus requires a systematic study of the disease (COVID-19) and the arsenal of weapons available to the biochemist in the fight against infection. When developing a particularly bad flu in January 2020 while in India after the visit of a friend, who had just travelled back from Wuhan (China), it gave me an early opportunity to study the tricky diagnosis of this dreaded disease first-hand. The somewhat unusual symptoms and a lingering weakness and malaise for months suggested that it was no ordinary influenza virus. Since that time, a baffling number of disparate symptoms have been ascribed to COVID-19 infection including respiratory, gastrointestinal, circulatory, urinary tract and nerve dysfunction that have even resulted in multi-organ failure in some cases. Naturally, an array of risk factors have also been identified ranging from age, sex, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension to cigarette smoking that can increase mortality rate dramatically. In the intervening period, much research has appeared on biochemical compounds that may help to prevent this infection and, possibly, aid in patient recovery. Among these bioactive molecules are certain anti-inflammatory substances such as vitamin D, zinc, chloroquine, soy isoflavones like genistein, and glycyrrhizic acid, some of which may be successful in attacking different biochemical processes of the new coronavirus and disarming its deadly artillery against the human host. In a few instances, the viral processes that are inhibited by these chemicals are essential for the replication and reproduction of this RNA virus thereby striking a lethal blow to its machinery. Thus, taken together, these compounds may form a worthy arsenal against a formidable foe in the absence of an effective vaccine, and, especially, if relapse or re-infection proves to be a common occurrence in recovered COVID-19 patients.

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...


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.


Author(s):  
Cihan Tastan ◽  
Bulut Yurtsever ◽  
Gozde Sir ◽  
Derya Dilek Kancagi ◽  
Sevda Demir ◽  
...  

AbstractThe novel coronavirus pneumonia, which was named later as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), is caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, namely SARS-CoV-2. It is a positive-strand RNA virus that is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans. The COVID-19 outbreak presents enormous challenges for global health behind the pandemic outbreak. The first diagnosed patient in Turkey has been reported by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health on March 11, 2020. Today, over ninety thousand cases in Turkey, and two million cases around the world have been declared. Due to the urgent need for vaccine and anti-viral drug, isolation of the virus is crucial. Here, we report one of the first isolation and characterization studies of SARS-CoV-2 from nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal specimens of diagnosed patients in Turkey. This study provides an isolation and replication methodology, and cell culture tropism of the virus that will be available to the research communities.Article SummaryScientists have isolated virus from Turkish COVID-19 patients. The isolation, propagation, and plaque and immune response assays of the virus described here will serve in following drug discovery and vaccine testing.


Author(s):  
KANAAN AL-TAMEEMI ◽  
RAIAAN KABAKLI

Coronavirus (CoV) (2019‐nCoV) is a large, enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. The abnormal outbreak of 2019‐nCoV in Wuhan warns of the risk of CoV (2019‐nCoV) to public health which causes viral pneumonia outbreak. In our review, we will discuss the biology of CoVs and the potential risk of the novel CoV (2019‐nCoV) and guide us to strategic objectives for controlling the virus.


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.


Author(s):  
liu wenzhong ◽  
Li hualan

<p>The novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is an infectious acute respiratory infection caused by the novel coronavirus. The virus is a positive-strand RNA virus with high homology to bat coronavirus. Due to the limits of the existing experimental tools, many protein roles of novel coronavirus including ORF8 are still unclear. Therefore, in the current scene of an emergency epidemic, it is of high scientific significance to predict the biological role of viral proteins through bioinformatics methods. In this study, conserved domain analysis, homology modeling, and molecular docking were used to compare the biological roles of certain proteins of the novel coronavirus. The results showed the ORF8 and surface glycoprotein could bind to the porphyrin, respectively, while orf1ab, ORF10 and ORF3a proteins could coordinately attack heme to dissociate the iron to form the porphyrin. The mechanism seriously interfered with the normal heme anabolic pathway of the human body, being expected to result in human disease. According to the validation analysis of these finds, Chloroquine could prevent orf1ab, ORF3a and ORF10 to attack the heme to form the porphyrin, and inhibit the binding of ORF8 and surface glycoproteins to porphyrins to a certain extent. Therefore, this research is of high value to contemporary biological experiments, disease prevention and clinical treatment.</p>


Author(s):  
liu wenzhong ◽  
Li hualan

<p>The novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is an infectious acute respiratory infection caused by the novel coronavirus. The virus is a positive-strand RNA virus with high homology to bat coronavirus. In this study, conserved domain analysis, homology modeling, and molecular docking were used to compare the biological roles of certain proteins of the novel coronavirus. The results showed the ORF8 and surface glycoprotein could bind to the porphyrin, respectively. At the same time, orf1ab, ORF10, and ORF3a proteins could coordinate attack the heme on the 1-beta chain of hemoglobin to dissociate the iron to form the porphyrin. The attack will cause less and less hemoglobin that can carry oxygen and carbon dioxide. The lung cells have extremely intense poisoning and inflammatory due to the inability to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen frequently, which eventually results in ground-glass-like lung images. The mechanism also interfered with the normal heme anabolic pathway of the human body, is expected to result in human disease. According to the validation analysis of these finds, chloroquine could prevent orf1ab, ORF3a, and ORF10 to attack the heme to form the porphyrin, and inhibit the binding of ORF8 and surface glycoproteins to porphyrins to a certain extent, effectively relieve the symptoms of respiratory distress. Favipiravir could inhibit the envelope protein and ORF7a protein bind to porphyrin, prevent the virus from entering host cells, and catching free porphyrins. Because the novel coronavirus is dependent on porphyrins, it may originate from an ancient virus. Therefore, this research is of high value to contemporary biological experiments, disease prevention, and clinical treatment.<br></p>


Author(s):  
liu wenzhong ◽  
Li hualan

<p>The novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is an infectious acute respiratory infection caused by the novel coronavirus. The virus is a positive-strand RNA virus with high homology to bat coronavirus. In this study, conserved domain analysis, homology modeling, and molecular docking were used to compare the biological roles of certain proteins of the novel coronavirus. The results showed the ORF8 and surface glycoprotein could bind to the porphyrin, respectively. At the same time, orf1ab, ORF10, and ORF3a proteins could coordinate attack the heme on the 1-beta chain of hemoglobin to dissociate the iron to form the porphyrin. The attack will cause less and less hemoglobin that can carry oxygen and carbon dioxide. The lung cells have extremely intense poisoning and inflammatory due to the inability to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen frequently, which eventually results in ground-glass-like lung images. The mechanism also interfered with the normal heme anabolic pathway of the human body, is expected to result in human disease. According to the validation analysis of these finds, chloroquine could prevent orf1ab, ORF3a, and ORF10 to attack the heme to form the porphyrin, and inhibit the binding of ORF8 and surface glycoproteins to porphyrins to a certain extent, effectively relieve the symptoms of respiratory distress. Favipiravir could inhibit the envelope protein and ORF7a protein bind to porphyrin, prevent the virus from entering host cells, and catching free porphyrins. Because the novel coronavirus is dependent on porphyrins, it may originate from an ancient virus. Therefore, this research is of high value to contemporary biological experiments, disease prevention, and clinical treatment.<br></p>


Author(s):  
Arpit Sikri

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains a global challenge. Even after extensive research going on globally, an effective vaccine and other viable treatment options have eluded investigators. Therefore, guidelines by the higher authorities and following the precautions as well as protocols provide the best approach in controlling the spread of the disease. In this article, various treatment modalities, preventive methods, and transmission routes of COVID-19 are discussed along with the impact of COVID-19 in dental practice and remedial measures to fight against the same.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dudala Sai Sushma ◽  
Varun Jaiswal ◽  
Arvind Verma ◽  
Asha Sharma ◽  
Tarun Pal

Background: Humans can be infected with various coronaviruses that cause serious illness and death. One such pandemic strain of coronavirus was recently identified in December 2019 and lead to a devastating outbreak in Wuhan city of China. It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is highly contagious which causes symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath. Objective: The objective of this review is to highlight the current understanding, research and therapeutic updates of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: A thorough literature search was conducted for research papers and patents in context to COVID-19. All articles with respect to this subject was taken from various public repositories such as Google Scholar, Pubmed, ScienceDirect (Elsevier), Springer, Web of Science, etc. Results: The present analysis showed that key areas of the inventions were the vaccines and diagnostic kits apart from the composition for the treatment of CoV. It was also observed that no specific vaccine treatments are available for the treatment of 2019-nCov; however, developing novel chemical or biological drugs and kits for early diagnosis, prevention, and disease management is the primary governing topic among the patented inventions. The present study also indicates potential research opportunities for the future, particularly to combat 2019-nCoV. The current focus of the researches has turned towards developing four potential treatments including development of candidate vaccine, development of novel potential drugs, repurposing of existing drugs and development of convalescent plasma therapy. The PCR based diagnosis is the gold standard for the COVID-19 testing but it require resource time, expertise and high associated cost hence the researchers are also developing different diagnosis methods for the COVID-19. Although vaccines are being developed by various companies and have passed the pre-clinical stages but still there exists no guarantee for these to become the effective vaccine. The current treatments which are being used for COVID-19 patients are not well established and have limited success. Conclusion: The pandemic has challenged the medical, economic and public health infrastructure across globe. There is urgent need to explore all available and possible methods/approaches to study this disease for drug and vaccine development at the earliest.


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