ABSTRACT
Biomedical Innovations to Combat COVID-19 provides an updated overview on the development of vaccines, antiviral drugs and nanomaterials, and diagnostic methods for the fight against COVID-19. Perspectives on such technologies are identified, discussed, and enriched with figures for easy understanding and applicability. Furthermore, it contains basic aspects of virology, immunology, and antiviral drugs that are needed to fully appreciate these innovations. This book is split into four sections: introduction, presenting basic virologic and epidemiological aspects of COVID-19;vaccines against COVID-19, discussing their different types and applications used to develop them;diagnostic approaches for SARS-CoV-2, encompassing advanced sensing and microfluidic-based biosensors;and drug development and delivery, where antivirals based on nanomaterials or drugs are presented. It is a valuable source for virologists, biotechnologists, and members of biomedical field interested in learning more about how novel technologies can be applied to fasten the eradication of the COVID-19 and similar pandemics. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The current COVID-19 pandemic demands the rapid development of vaccines and the rapid evaluation of drugs to combat SARS-CoV-2. The urgency of the former ended up in the rapid approval of several vaccines under an emergency use. Despite this, for the latter there is still limited information that successfully demonstrates the efficacy of a particular drug against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore this chapter is intended to summarize antiviral drugs with activity against enveloped viruses (including SARS-CoV-2) that have been further evaluated as cargo of DDS (drug delivery systems). To the best of our knowledge, drugs with activity against SARS-CoV-2 have not been evaluated as part of DDS. The activity of some drugs against COVID-19 has been demonstrated with experiments or computational studies. The antiviral drugs presented are chloroquine, ivermectin, lopinavir/ritonavir, ribavirin, and sofosbuvir. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is also presented since several DDS carrying siRNA have been evaluated against enveloped viruses. Dexamethasone is a special case that is also presented here as antiinflammatory agent since it is currently used in the treatment of COVID-19. The materials used to produce DDS are diverse and include gelatin, poly(l-lactide), poly(lactic acid), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), liposomes, mesoporous silica, and chitosan. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
In this chapter the use of nanomaterials (e.g., graphene oxide, quantum dots, silver, zinc oxide, and gold nanoparticles) to combat COVID-19 is presented. This chapter does not include nanomaterials used for the release of drugs or antiviral molecules where the nanomaterial is not a part of the antiviral effect. The nanomaterials presented somehow interact with the virus, therefore, having an antiviral effect per se. The chapter first reviews the updated efforts conducted evaluating nanomaterials against SARS-CoV-2. Later, the chapter reviews nanomaterials that have been evaluated against enveloped viruses (e.g., the feline coronavirus, influenza A virus, pseudorabies virus, herpes simplex virus, and respiratory syncytial virus), which could be tested against SARS-CoV-2. Most of the nanomaterials studied thus far are effective at inhibiting viruses when contacting them with the virus before infection. Incipient studies address the use of nanomaterials in therapeutic approaches. Similarly, most studies of nanomaterials against viruses have only been evaluated in vitro. Few studies have been conducted in vivo using mice. Virus inactivation is generally achieved by the interaction of the nanomaterial and the virus through electrostatic, hydrophobic, and affinity interactions. A combination of these interactions could arise depending on the properties of the nanomaterial. In few stances the nanomaterial studied responds to an external stimulation, such as near-infrared irradiation, to inactivate the virus. Finally, some works evaluate or envision the nanomaterials as antiviral agents of surfaces or components of personal protection equipment. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The current COVID-19 pandemic demands the rapid development of vaccines and the rapid evaluation of drugs to combat SARS-CoV-2. The urgency of the former ended up in the rapid approval of several vaccines under an emergency use. Despite this, for the latter there is still limited information that successfully demonstrates the efficacy of a particular drug against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore this chapter is intended to summarize antiviral drugs with activity against enveloped viruses (including SARS-CoV-2) that have been further evaluated as cargo of DDS (drug delivery systems). To the best of our knowledge, drugs with activity against SARS-CoV-2 have not been evaluated as part of DDS. The activity of some drugs against COVID-19 has been demonstrated with experiments or computational studies. The antiviral drugs presented are chloroquine, ivermectin, lopinavir/ritonavir, ribavirin, and sofosbuvir. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is also presented since several DDS carrying siRNA have been evaluated against enveloped viruses. Dexamethasone is a special case that is also presented here as antiinflammatory agent since it is currently used in the treatment of COVID-19. The materials used to produce DDS are diverse and include gelatin, poly(l-lactide), poly(lactic acid), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), liposomes, mesoporous silica, and chitosan.
ABSTRACT
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic requires the development of effective vaccines consisting of formulations able to induce safe and neutralizing humoral and cellular responses, particularly in the respiratory system. Since nanomaterials can serve as efficient antigen delivery carriers and immunostimulatory agents, their exploration and use in vaccinology have led to the production of nanovaccines, specifically, conjugates comprising antigens, nanocarriers, and adjuvants that can render highly effective immunization agents. This chapter covers vaccines under development and in present use, general considerations on nanomaterials that can be used as nanocarriers, and recently reported nanovaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 that result in attractive immunization models already implemented in test animals and generating promising immune-protective effects. A revision of such developments is presented here, identifying improvements to these approaches. Moreover, we include perspectives on the development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines taking advantage of such precedents.