New approaches related to the use of polyamine-free and polyamine-deficient diets in the list of nutritional products for COVID-19 patients

Abstract

Researches aimed at finding effective means of pathogenic therapy for this viral infection are extremely relevant. Researches of the last three years have established that some human pathogenic coronaviruses – MERS, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, contain aliphatic polyamines in their structure, which participate in the packaging of genetic material (DNA, RNA), as well as the nucleocapsid. Virus-host cell interactions also provide adhesion processes on the surface of the cytoplasmic membrane of target cells. In the intracellular space, aliphatic polyamines actively affect the translation and replication processes of the genetic material and necessary proteins of the virus itself, as well as the formation of daughter viruses. Long-term persistence in the SARS-CoV-2 infected organism is largely due to the absorption of polyamines by coronavirus localized in target cells of the blood and parenchymatous organs. Unfortunately, the above new facts did not serve as a prerequisite for finding effective means of pathogenetic therapy for COVID-19, based on the inhibition of polyamine-dependent processes that ensure long-term persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in the infected organism. We are talking about specific drugs such as α-difluoromethylornithine and its analogues, which are successfully used in oncology in the complex treatment of malignant neoplasms with the aim of lowering the level of aliphatic polyamines in the affected areas of malignantly transformed organs. We recommend the use of polyamine-free and polyamine-deficient diets for COVID-19 for the first time. In the planned study, we will present tables with food products of animal and vegetable origin, characterized by extremely low content and/or absence of aliphatic polyamines in them. At the same time, food products with a high content of aliphatic polyamines should be excluded from the general list of products recommended for COVID-19 patients. We also recommend the use of a polyamine-deficient diet (with a preventive purpose) during the COVID-19 pandemic to a wide contingent of practically healthy individuals, convalescents, medical staff of specialized infectious disease clinics, as well as family members of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients.