Virology, Epidemiology and Control of SARS-CoV-2: A Perspective
نویسندگان
1 Laboratory of Neuroproteomics, Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil.
2 Biotechnology Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
3 Clinical Biochemistry Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
4 Molecular Biology Research Center, Systems Biology and Poisonings Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran.
doi
10.22034/nmrj.2021.02.001چکیده
SARS-CoV-2 is a new human-infecting coronavirus, which is the causative agent of COVID-19 disease. The World Health Organization announced this disease as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The genome of SARS-CoV-2 is ~30kb in length which encodes sixteen nonstructural and four main structural proteins. The structural spike protein enables SARS-CoV-2 to bind to host cell receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which leads to viral infection. COVID-19 is considered as a respiratory disease that affects just the lungs in most cases. There are no specific therapeutics or effective vaccines available to control COVID-19, which makes it a continuing threat to global public health. Consequently, the principal approach to prevent this disease is supportive care. Due to their potential to increase drug bioavailability, a number of approaches in pharmaceutical nanotechnology are currently being tested against SARS-CoV-2. This includes nano-based products designed for detection, prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Such approaches may help to control this current pandemic and pave the way for prevention and treatment of future coronavirus outbreaks.
