How can nanotechnology help to combat COVID-19? Opportunities and urgent need
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Journal of Nanobiotechnology Open Access
REVIEW
How can nanotechnology help to combat COVID‑19? Opportunities and urgent need Estefânia V. R. Campos1, Anderson E. S. Pereira2, Jhones Luiz de Oliveira2, Lucas Bragança Carvalho2, Mariana Guilger‑Casagrande3, Renata de Lima3* and Leonardo Fernandes Fraceto2*
Abstract Incidents of viral outbreaks have increased at an alarming rate over the past decades. The most recent human coro‑ navirus known as COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has already spread around the world and shown R0 values from 2.2 to 2.68. However, the ratio between mortality and number of infections seems to be lower in this case in comparison to other human coronaviruses (such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)). These outbreaks have tested the limits of healthcare systems and have posed serious questions about management using conventional therapies and diagnostic tools. In this regard, the use of nanotechnology offers new opportunities for the development of novel strategies in terms of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 and other viral infections. In this review, we discuss the use of nanotechnology for COVID19 virus management by the development of nano-based materials, such as disinfectants, personal protective equip‑ ment, diagnostic systems and nanocarrier systems, for treatments and vaccine development, as well as the challenges and drawbacks that need addressing. Keywords: Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, Nanotechnology, Nanoparticles, Nanosensors, Nano-vaccines Background Coronaviruses belongs to the subfamily Coronavirinae (order: Nidovirales, family: Coronaviridae), which are enveloped and spherical viruses with a single-stranded RNA genome [1, 2]. The recent outbreak of the novel beta-coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, is probably associated with a seafood market. According to WHO situation report 148, there had been 7,941,791 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally by 16 June 2020, resulting in 434,796 deaths. According to Zhou et al., the genome sequence of the novel virus responsible for COVID-19 (denominated SARS-CoV-2) is 96.2%
*Correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected] 2 São Paulo State University–UNESP, Institute of Science and Technology, Sorocaba, SP, Brazil 3 Universidade de Sorocaba, Rodovia Raposo Tavares km 92,5, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
similar to the genome of bat coronavirus RaTG13, while it shares 79.5% similarity with SARS-CoV [3]. However, compared to SARS-CoV, the human to human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is much faster, which has already resulted in its spread around the world [4–6] and led the WHO to declare the outbreak as a global pandemic on 11 March 2020 [7]. The genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 shows that around two-thirds of the RNA is composed of replicase ORF1a/1b, which encodes 16 non-structural proteins and translates two polyproteins, followed by approximately 13
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