A Review of Potential Therapeutic Strategies for COVID-19

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 is a rather heterogeneous disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The ongoing pandemic is a global threat with increasing death tolls worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to lineage B β-CoV, a subgroup of Sarbecovirus. These enveloped, large, positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses are easily spread among individuals, mainly via the respiratory system and droplets. Although the disease has been gradually controlled in many countries, once social restrictions are relaxed the virus may rebound, leading to a more severe and uncontrollable situation again, as occurred in Shanghai, China, in 2022. The current global health threat calls for the urgent development of effective therapeutic options for the treatment and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This systematic overview of possible SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic strategies from 2019 to 2022 indicates three potential targets: virus entry, virus replication, and the immune system. The information provided in this review will aid the development of more potent and specific antiviral compounds.

Development of SARS-CoV-2 entry antivirals

“…(J. Meng, Li, Zhang, Wang, Huang, Nie, et al., 2022 ). Both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 are composed of four main structural proteins: the spike glycoprotein (S), envelope (E), nucleocapsid (N), and membrane (M), as well as 16 nonstructural proteins, and 5–8 accessory proteins ( Khailany, Safdar, & Ozaslan, 2020 ).…”

Inflammation as Prognostic Hallmark of Clinical Outcome in Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection

“…The understanding of the clinical and biochemical effects of COVID-19 is constantly expanding. Several strategies for dealing with this global emergency have been developed, ranging from preventive measures, from individual protection devices, isolation of positive cases and vaccines, to adjuvant therapies and specific antiviral treatments [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Due to the extreme variety of the spectrum of clinical manifestations of COVID-19, it is advisable to tailor preventive and therapeutic choices according to the characteristics of the patients.…”

A Clinical Update on SARS-CoV-2: Pathology and Development of Potential Inhibitors

“…From January 2020 until now, the development of SARS-CoV-2 has accelerated, and hundreds of candidate medications have been tested in preclinical and clinical stages for use against the virus [1][2][3]. The clinical trials that examine novel COVID (coronavirus disease) therapies provide crucial information about their efficacy and safety [3,4]. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration), EMA (European Medicines Agency), or other national regulatory bodies must approve clinical trials [5].…”