Abstract
Countries worldwide have confirmed a staggering number of COVID-19 cases, and it is now clear that no country is immune to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Resource-poor countries with weaker health systems are struggling with epidemics of their own and are now in a more uncertain situation with this rapidly spreading infection. Frontline healthcare workers are succumbing to the infection in their efforts to save lives. There is an urgency to develop treatments for COVID-19, yet there is limited clinical data on the efficacy of potential drug treatments. Countries worldwide implemented a stay-at-home order to “flatten the curve” and relieve the pressure on the health system, but it is uncertain how this will unfold after the economy reopens. Trehalose, a natural glucose disaccharide, is known to impair viral function through the autophagy system. Here, we propose trehalose as a potential preventative treatment for SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission.
Highlights
The pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly expanded around the globe
Autophagic inhibition by 3MA or Beclin-1 siRNA decreased human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) virus production in the Jurkat cell line [31], a recent study has shown that trehalose can restore autophagy impaired by HIV infection in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in vitro (Table 1) [32]
In primary mouse cortical cultures infected with the West Nile virus (WNV), trehalose induced robust activation of autophagy indicated by an increase in protein expression of light chain 3 (LC3)-II; activation of autophagy had no significant effect on WNV growth [37] (Table 1)
Summary
The pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly expanded around the globe. There is no known U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatment that can effectively control SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission. These studies support the feasibility and safety of trehalose treatment for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission.
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