Aspects of Nanotechnology for COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Its Delivery Applications

Abstract

Coronavirus, a causative agent of the common cold to a much more complicated disease such as “severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV-2), and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)”, is a member of the coronaviridae family and contains a positive-sense single-stranded RNA of 26–32 kilobase pairs. COVID-19 has shown very high mortality and morbidity and imparted a significantly impacted socioeconomic status. There are many variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have originated from the mutation of the genetic material of the original coronavirus. This has raised the demand for efficient treatment/therapy to manage newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 infections successfully. However, different types of vaccines have been developed and administered to patients but need more attention because COVID-19 is not under complete control. In this article, currently developed nanotechnology-based vaccines are explored, such as inactivated virus vaccines, mRNA-based vaccines, DNA-based vaccines, S-protein-based vaccines, virus-vectored vaccines, etc. One of the important aspects of vaccines is their administration inside the host body wherein nanotechnology can play a very crucial role. Currently, more than 26 nanotechnology-based COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in various phases of clinical trials. Nanotechnology is one of the growing fields in drug discovery and drug delivery that can also be used for the tackling of coronavirus. Nanotechnology can be used in various ways to design and develop tools and strategies for detection, diagnosis, and therapeutic and vaccine development to protect against COVID-19. The design of instruments for speedy, precise, and sensitive diagnosis, the fabrication of potent sanitizers, the delivery of extracellular antigenic components or mRNA-based vaccines into human tissues, and the administration of antiretroviral medicines into the organism are nanotechnology-based strategies for COVID-19 management. Herein, we discuss the application of nanotechnology in COVID-19 vaccine development and the challenges and opportunities in this approach.

Nano-based techniques: A revolutionary approach to prevent covid-19 and enhancing human awareness

“…Therefore, a quick and point-of-care coronavirus diagnosis is crucial and useful in the prompt treatment of coronavirus infection. Nanotechnology-based techniques are crucial in the diagnosis of coronavirus disease in order to avoid the virus's spread [ 267 , 268 ].…”

“…It may prevent the interaction of viruses with cells, the blending of lipid bilayers, cell endocytosis, transcription, translation, and viral reproducibility, in addition to promoting intracellular processes that cause virus's irreparable injury. Nanotechnology researchers have looked at the biological workings of gene carriers in order to develop delivery techniques that might be used in a variety of fields [ 268 ].…”

Phytochemical-loaded Nanoparticles in COVID-19 Management

“…Additionally, nanotechnology aids in the development of portable and wearable devices for continuous monitoring of vital signs and early detection of COVID-19 symptoms. By harnessing nanotechnology, powerful tools are developed to combat and control the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19 (Prabhakar et al, 2023).…”

Enhancement of bioavailability of herbal drugs for treating viral therapy using SNEDDS as the delivery system

“…Thus, phytochemicals are majorly used to show effect against vigorous infections 7 . With consideration of this, pharmaceutical companies formulate SNEDDS for treating viral infections by considering phytochemicals as drug molecules 8 . The oral route was used for the delivery of drugs due to its safety, comfort, and low side effects.…”