Is Nanotechnology Helping in the Fight Against COVID-19?

Valéria Maria De Oliveira Cardoso,Paula Maria Pincela Lins,Bruna Juliana Moreira,Edson José Comparetti,Leonardo Miziara Barboza Ferreira,Isabella Sampaio,Valtencir Zucolotto

doi:10.3389/fnano.2020.588915

Valéria Maria De Oliveira Cardoso, Paula Maria Pincela Lins + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnano.2020.588915

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Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic represents an unprecedented public health concern. The disease, which presents an incredibly high spreading rate, was discovered in late December 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei province - China. The virus causing COVID-19, known as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is responsible for the infection of more than 21.8 million individuals and more than 772 thousand deaths in 216 countries and still counting. Currently, there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments officially approved for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19, and since its appearance, several therapeutic approaches have been tested, including the use of repurposing drugs, such as broad-spectrum antivirals, nucleoside analogs, protease inhibitors, immunomodulators, plasma therapies, among others. However, these strategies have not shown great clinical benefits and are only administered to attenuate the symptoms. Although many therapeutic strategies are being tested against COVID-19, more efforts should be devoted to fighting the virus. Nanomaterials represent a powerful tool against COVID-19 since they can be designed to act directly toward the infection, increase the effectiveness of conventional antiviral drugs, or even to trigger the immune response of the patient. The advances in nanotechnology over the past decades allow us to develop new nanomaterials and step forward in the application of new technological tools. This review addresses the aspects related to the structural characteristics of the virus, mechanisms involved in the infection, and therapies currently used against COVID-19. Nanotechnology-based strategies to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19 will be discussed, including nanomaterials for face masks and surface sterilization, adjuvants, vaccine delivery nanosystems, and point-of-care tests, providing a perspective on how nanotechnology can be an allied in the fight against COVID-19.

Highlights

For approximately two decades, the world has faced several outbreaks of viral diseases, including Ebola, Influenza A (H1N1), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Zika
The severe nature of this COVID-19 pandemic situation highlights the importance of new technological proposals as a means of containing and stopping the spread of disease
Standard therapeutic approaches are based on antiviral drugs and adjuvant molecules that are already used in other viral diseases, and which can inhibit the virus uptake in tissues and block proteases activity in the infected cells

Summary

Introduction

The world has faced several outbreaks of viral diseases, including Ebola, Influenza A (H1N1), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Zika. All of these diseases had a significant impact on the global economy and public health (Boopathi et al, 2020). In November 2019, the total number of confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) was 2,494, including 858 deaths, covering 27 countries. During the SARS-CoV outbreak, 26 countries were affected, with 8,096 confirmed cases and 744 deaths (Hassan et al, 2020; Hua et al, 2020; Wang et al, 2020a). The CoV disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO on March 11, 2020 (Adhikari et al, 2020; Hageman, 2020; Zhu N. et al, 2020)

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