Biologically active compounds from marine organisms in the strategies for combating coronaviruses

Abstract

Despite the progress made in immunization and drug development, so far there are no prophylactic vaccines and effective therapies for many viral infections, including infections caused by coronaviruses. In this regard, the search for new antiviral substances continues to be relevant, and the enormous potential of marine resources are a stimulus for the study of marine compounds with antiviral activity in experiments and clinical trials. The highly pathogenic human coronaviruses-severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remain a serious threat to human health. In this review, the authors hope to bring the attention of researchers to the use of biologically active substances of marine origin as potential broad-spectrum antiviral agents targeting common cellular pathways and various stages of the life cycle of different viruses, including coronaviruses. The review has been compiled using references from major databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Elsevier, Springer and Google Scholar (up to June 2020) and keywords such as ‘coronaviruses’, ‘marine organisms’, ‘biologically active substances’, ‘antiviral drugs’, ‘SARS-CoV’, ‘MERS-CoV’, ‘SARS-CoV-2’, ‘3CLpro’, ‘TMPRSS2’, ‘ACE2’. After obtaining all reports from the databases, the papers were carefully analysed in order to find data related to the topic of this review (98 references). Biologically active substances of marine origin, such as flavonoids, phlorotannins, alkaloids, terpenoids, peptides, lectins, polysaccharides, lipids and others substances, can affect coronaviruses at the stages of penetration and entry of the viral particle into the cell, replication of the viral nucleic acid and release of the virion from the cell; they also can act on the host's cellular targets. These natural compounds could be a vital resource in the fight against coronaviruses.

Docking-based virtual screening and identification of potential COVID-19 main protease inhibitors from brown algae

“…The top seven structurally diverse scaffolds were selected for further analysis. Marine natural products (MNP) are reported to possess various pharmacological effects ( Khalid et al, 2018 ; Gentile et al, 2020 ; Zaporozhets and Besednova 2020 ). Gentile et al searched for new inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 M pro from a collection of fourteen thousand MNPs by using structure- and ligand-based screening.…”

The Potency of Seaweed Sulfated Polysaccharides for the Correction of Hemostasis Disorders in COVID-19

“…In addition to being strong anticoagulants, antithrombotics, and fibrinolytics, PSs are also able to exhibit other effects that are useful in the treatment of viral infections, accounting for known data on their antiviral activity [116][117][118][119], anti-inflammatory activity, and ability to reduce the proinflammatory cytokine production and other beneficial effects [17,56,[120][121][122][123][124]. Such a wide range of biological activity is due to the chemical nature of PSs.…”

Aquatic Biota Is Not Exempt from Coronavirus Infections: An Overview

“…The penetration and entry stages of the viral particle into the host cell in viral nucleic acid replication and virion release from the cell can also act on the host's cellular targets. These natural compounds could be a vital resource in the fight against coronaviruses [97]. Zaporozhets and Bedsenova [97] conducted a database search in 2020, identifying~34 biologically active substances from sponges, echinoderms, mollusks, soft corals, bryozoans, and others.…”

“…These natural compounds could be a vital resource in the fight against coronaviruses [97]. Zaporozhets and Bedsenova [97] conducted a database search in 2020, identifying~34 biologically active substances from sponges, echinoderms, mollusks, soft corals, bryozoans, and others.…”