No abstract

Since early 2020, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in many societies around the world. As of the present, the SARS-CoV-2-borne disease is propagating in almost all countries, affecting hundreds of thousands of people in an unprecedented way. As the name suggests, the novel coronavirus, widely known as SARS-CoV-2, is a new emerging human pathogen. A novel disease of relatively unknown origin, COVID-19 does not seem to be amenable to the currently available medicines since there is no specific cure for the disease. In the absence of any vaccine or effective antiviral medication, we have no tools at our disposal, but the method of quarantine, be it domestic or institutional, to hinder any further progression of this outbreak. However, there is a record of physicians in the past who practiced convalescent blood transfusion. To their awe, the method seemed to be useful. It is anticipated that these contemporary methods will outdo any other vaccination process in the time being, as blood transfusion is instead a cost-effective and time-friendly technique. Following a successful trial, this new approach of contemporary nature to a viral disease may serve as an emergency intervention to intercept infectious outbreaks and prevent an impending epidemic/pandemic. In this review, we document the most recent evidence regarding the efficiency of convalescent plasma and serum therapy on SARS, MERS, and particularly COVID-19, while discussing potential advantages and possible risks of such practice.

Almost a century after the devastating pandemic of the Spanish flu, humankind is facing the relatively comparable global outbreak of COVID‐19. COVID‐19 is an infectious disease caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 with an unprecedented transmission pattern. In the face of the recent repercussions of COVID‐19, many have argued that the clinical experience with influenza through the last century may have tremendous implications in the containment of this newly emerged viral disease. During the last 2 years, from the emergence of COVID‐19, tremendous advances have been made in diagnosing and treating coinfections. Several approved vaccines are available now for the primary prevention of COVID‐19 and specific treatments exist to alleviate symptoms. The present review article aims to discuss the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of SARS‐CoV‐2 and influenza A virus coinfection while delivering a bioinformatics‐based insight into this subject matter.

Most commonly recognized as a catabolic pathway, autophagy is a perplexing mechanism through which a living cell can free itself of excess cytoplasmic components, i.e., organelles, by means of certain membranous vesicles or lysosomes filled with degrading enzymes. Upon exposure to external insult or internal stimuli, the cell might opt to activate such pathway through which it can gain control over the maintenance of intracellular components, and thus, sustain homeostasis by intercepting the formation of unnecessary structures or elimination of the already present dysfunctional or inutile organelles. Despite such appropriateness, autophagy, might also be considered a frailty for the cell, as it has been said to have a rather complicated role in tumorigenesis. A merit in the early stages of tumor formation, autophagy appears to be salutary due to its tumor-suppressing effects. In fact, several investigations on tumorigenesis have reported diminished levels of autophagic activity in tumor cells, which might result in transition to malignancy. On the contrary, autophagy has been suggested to be a seemingly favorable mechanism to progressed malignancies, as it contributes to survival of such cells. Based on the recent literature, this mechanism might also be activated upon the entry of engineered nanomaterials inside a cell, supposedly protecting the host from foreign materials. Accordingly, there is a good chance that therapeutic interventions for modulating autophagy in malignant cells using nanoparticles may sensitize cancerous cells to certain treatment modalities, e.g., radiotherapy. In this review, we will discuss the signaling pathways involved in autophagy, and the significance of the mechanism itself in apoptosis and tumorigenesis, while shedding light on possible alterations in autophagy through engineered nanomaterials, and the their potential therapeutic applications in cancer.