Study of combining virtual screening and antiviral treatments of the Sars-CoV-2 (Covid-19)

Microb Pathog. 2020 Sep:146:104241. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2020.104241. Epub 2020 May 5.

Abstract

The recent epidemic outbreak of a novel human coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 and causing the respiratory tract disease COVID-19 has reached worldwide resonance and a global effort is being undertaken to characterize the molecular features and evolutionary origins of this virus. Therefore, rapid and accurate identification of pathogenic viruses plays a vital role in selecting appropriate treatments, saving people's lives and preventing epidemics. Additionally, general treatments, coronavirus-specific treatments, and antiviral treatments useful in fighting COVID-19 are addressed. This review sets out to shed light on the SARS-CoV-2 and host receptor recognition, a crucial factor for successful virus infection and taking immune-informatics approaches to identify B- and T-cell epitopes for surface glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. A variety of improved or new approaches also have been developed. It is anticipated that this will assist researchers and clinicians in developing better techniques for timely and effective detection of coronavirus infection. Moreover, the genomic sequence of the virus responsible for COVID-19, as well as the experimentally determined three-dimensional structure of the Main protease (Mpro) is available. The reported structure of the target Mpro was described in this review to identify potential drugs for COVID-19 using virtual high throughput screening.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Epitopes; Immune-informatics; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2
  • Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use
  • Betacoronavirus / drug effects
  • Betacoronavirus / genetics*
  • Betacoronavirus / immunology
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus 3C Proteases
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Coronavirus Infections / drug therapy
  • Coronavirus Infections / pathology*
  • Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins
  • Cysteine Endopeptidases / metabolism
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • Humans
  • Nucleocapsid Proteins / metabolism
  • Pandemics
  • Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / metabolism*
  • Phosphoproteins
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
  • Pneumonia, Viral / drug therapy
  • Pneumonia, Viral / pathology*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Receptors, Virus / metabolism*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte
  • Nucleocapsid Proteins
  • Phosphoproteins
  • Receptors, Virus
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins
  • nucleocapsid phosphoprotein, SARS-CoV-2
  • Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A
  • ACE2 protein, human
  • Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2
  • Cysteine Endopeptidases
  • Coronavirus 3C Proteases