Nanozymes to fight the COVID-19 and future pandemics

Abstract

In 2019, the pandemic induced by the rapid spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 'SARS-CoV-2', also named coronavirus disease 'COVID-19', has rapidly caused serious health, economic, social, and political issues worldwide. This has been accentuated by asymptomatic carriers, fast viral mutations, incoherent lockdown policies, and limited methods of detection and treatment. Nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 are lengthy and complicated, and the rapid antibody tests produce false-negative diagnoses, particularly in the early stage of infection. Moreover, there are no specific and effective medicines available for treatment. Therefore, rapid diagnostics and therapeutics are urgently required. Here, we argue that nanozymesenzyme-mimicking nanoparticles-could be used for faster, more sensitive, and accurate detection and treatment of the COVID-19. Indeed, nanozymes have high surface areas allowing easier bioconjugation for detection, and nanozymes possess integrated drug-functionalization for treatment. Moreover, the size, composition, and surface chemistry of nanozymes can be rationally designed for improved theranostic applications. COVID-19 historyThe COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan, China, due to emergence of a novel strain of coronavirus (Sallard et al. 2021), which was provisionally named '2019-nCoV' by the World Health Organization (WHO). Later, the virus was renamed 'SARS-CoV-2' by the International Committee

Biosystem‐Inspired Engineering of Nanozymes for Biomedical Applications

“…[ 121 ] By virtue of their unique catalytic and physicochemical properties, nanozymes can inactivate viruses directly or indirectly, providing a new direction for fighting virus infection. [ 122 ] The role of nanozymes in antiviral therapy is mainly to increase ROS levels, regulate the immune environment, prevent virus replication, as well as oxidize virus protein and a lipid envelope. In recent years, COVID‐19 has affected the lives of people all over the world, but there is still no effective treatment.…”

Development of nanozymes for promising alleviation of COVID-19-associated arthritis

“…Nanozymes exhibit broad-spectrum antiviral ability due to their small size properties, surface tunability, and enzyme-like activities. 43,52 Although research in the field of SARS-CoV-2 disinfection by nanozymes is limited, some investigations have validated their potential for disinfecting this virus. For instance, Wang et al investigated TiO 2 -supported SAN (Ag-TiO 2 SAN) containing atomically dispersed Ag atoms.…”

“…Nanozymes provide several advantages for COVID-19-associated arthritis by addressing multiple complications simultaneously: (1) nanozymes have the potential to combat SARS-CoV-2-related symptoms by disinfecting the virus. 43,44 (2) Nanozymes can imitate the enzyme-like activity of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), which reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, relieving the infected cells, and facilitating the recovery of joints and other tissues, as they are known to do for common arthritis. 45,46 (3) Ultra-small nanozymes can be customdesigned with great flexibility to penetrate organ barriers and selectively target specific tissues or organs, including arthritic joints, thus minimizing potential side effects associated with conventional therapies, such as off-target effects.…”

Use of Nanomaterials-based Enzymes in Vaccine Production and Immunization

“…Many synthetiс mаteriаls, such аs сyсlоdextrins, metal structures, оrgаn selenium, аnd роrрhyrins [1,4,5], hаve been extensively studied and used tо design and synthesize these enzymes in а vаriety оf wаys. Tоdаy, much research is being dоne in а сlаss of synthetic enzymes called nаnо enzymes [6][7][8] thаt аre nаnоmаteriаls with enzyme-like рrорerties. These structures have features such as lоw соst, lоngevity, mаss рrоduсtiоn, tunable catalytic activities, rоbust high рerfоrmаnсe соmраred tо nаturаl enzymes [2,9,10].…”

“…A vассine is а biоlоgiсаl рreраrаtiоn thаt рrоvides асquired immunity tо а раrtiсulаr infeсtiоus diseаse [14,15,49]. Tоdаy, оne оf the mаjоr rоles рlаyed by these nаnоzymes саn be trасed tо the рrоduсtiоn оf СОVID-19 vaccine [7].…”