SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and advances in developing potential therapeutics and vaccines to counter this emerging pandemic

Abstract

A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), causing an emerging coronavirus disease (COVID-19), first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which has taken a catastrophic turn with high toll rates in China and subsequently spreading across the globe. The rapid spread of this virus to more than 210 countries while affecting more than 25 million people and causing more than 843,000 human deaths, it has resulted in a pandemic situation in the world. The SARS-CoV-2 virus belongs to the genus Betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, all of which originated in bats. It is highly contagious, causing symptoms like fever, dyspnea, asthenia and pneumonia, thrombocytopenia, and the severely infected patients succumb to the disease. Coronaviruses (CoVs) among all known RNA viruses have the largest genomes ranging from 26 to 32 kb in length. Extensive research has been conducted to understand the molecular basis of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and evolution, develop effective therapeutics, antiviral drugs, and vaccines, and to design rapid and confirmatory viral diagnostics as well as adopt appropriate prevention and control strategies. To date, August 30, 2020, no effective, proven therapeutic antibodies or specific drugs, and vaccines have turned up. In this review article, we describe the underlying molecular organization and phylogenetic analysis of the coronaviruses, including the SARS-CoV-2, and recent advances in diagnosis and vaccine development in brief and focusing mainly on developing potential therapeutic options that can be explored to manage this pandemic virus infection, which would help in valid countering of COVID-19.

An Insight Into COVID-19: A 21st Century Disaster and Its Relation to Immunocompetence and Food Antioxidants

“…Data showed that the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine exhibited an appropriate safety profile and improved antibody and cellular immune responses. These findings endorse a large-scale assessment of this candidate vaccine in the ongoing phase 3 trial program ( 120 ).…”

“…A total of 167 vaccine candidates are being tested worldwide. Among these, 29 are under clinical observation and 138 are under preclinical trials until 13 August 2020 ( 120 ). The first vaccine against COVID-19 was developed and approved for use only by the Chinese army ( 27 ).…”

A 21st Century Evil: Immunopathology and New Therapies of COVID-19

“…Recently, several mAbs against viruses have been developed, including SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV, in which the S protein is the major target described both in vitro and in vivo. According to some studies, the specific nAbs against SARS-CoV-1 RBD in the S protein could effectively block SARS-CoV-2 entry (218,225). However, Wrapp et al (226) tested several published SARS-CoV-1 RBD-specific nAbs and found that they do not have substantial binding to the S protein of SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that the cross-reactivity may be limited.…”

“…However, immunotherapy is effective and of immediate use, being of short duration. This approach also presented limitations, such as the possibility of abnormal reactions and other serious risks, such as induction of severe acute lung injury or ADE (225). Although we are living through a unique moment in science, with some mismatched information and novel, important discoveries being made every day, immunotherapy seems to be a possibly effective option to help patients until an effective, safe vaccine or treatment is developed.…”

Investigating the Potential for Ultraviolet Light to Modulate Morbidity and Mortality From COVID-19: A Narrative Review and Update

“…This increased risk may be related to the low-grade inflammation that characterizes these chronic diseases, age-related reductions in anti-viral immunity, expression of ACE2 in vulnerable tissues (e.g., adipose, heart), underlying tissue fibrosis, impairments in lung function, and non-medical factors (e.g., poverty, crowding). For more information on other aspects of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic, including aspects of viral epidemiology and evolution, disease pathogenesis, prevention and treatment, please refer to comprehensive reviews ( 6 , 7 ).…”