ABSTRACT
Coronaviruses represent global health threat. In this century, they have already caused two epidemics and one serious pandemic. Although, at present, there are no approved drugs and therapies for the treatment and prevention of human coronaviruses, several agents, FDA-approved, and preclinical, have shown in vitro and/or in vivo antiviral activity. An in-depth analysis of the current situation leads to the identification of several potential drugs that could have an impact on the fight against coronaviruses infections. In this review, we discuss the virology of human coronaviruses highlighting the main biological targets and summarize the current state-of-the-art of possible therapeutic options to inhibit coronaviruses infections. We mostly focus on FDA-approved and preclinical drugs targeting viral conserved elements.
Subject(s)
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/metabolism , COVID-19/metabolism , Coronavirus Infections/metabolism , Coronavirus/metabolism , Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4/metabolism , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/metabolism , Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/antagonists & inhibitors , Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors/administration & dosage , Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors/metabolism , Animals , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/administration & dosage , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/metabolism , Antiviral Agents/administration & dosage , Antiviral Agents/metabolism , Azoles/administration & dosage , Azoles/metabolism , Coronavirus/drug effects , Coronavirus Infections/drug therapy , Enzyme Inhibitors/administration & dosage , Enzyme Inhibitors/metabolism , Humans , Isoindoles , Naphthoquinones/administration & dosage , Naphthoquinones/metabolism , Organoselenium Compounds/administration & dosage , Organoselenium Compounds/metabolism , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/drug therapy , COVID-19 Drug TreatmentABSTRACT
Under pandemic-caused emergency, evaluation of the potential of existing antiviral drugs for the treatment of COVID-19 is relevant. Triazavirin, an antiviral drug developed in Russia for per-oral administration, is involved in clinical trials against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This virus has affinity to epithelial cells in respiratory tract, so drug delivery directly in lungs may enhance therapeutic effect and reduce side effects for stomach, liver, kidneys. We elaborated ultrasonic method of triazavirin aerosol generation and investigated the inhalation delivery of this drug in mice. Mean particle size and number concentration of aerosol used in inhalation experiments are 560 nm and 4 × 105 cm-3, respectively. Aerosol mass concentration is 1.6 × 10-4 mg/cm3. Inhalation for 20 min in a nose-only chamber resulted in 2 mg/kg body delivered dose and 2.6 µg/mL triazavirin concentration in blood plasma. Elimination rate constant determined in aerosol administration experiments was ke = 0.077 min-1, which agrees with the value measured after intravenous delivery, but per-oral administration resulted in considerably lower apparent elimination rate constant of pseudo-first order, probably due to non-linear dependence of absorption rate on triazavirin concentration in gastrointestinal tract. The bioavailability of triazavirin aerosol is found to be 85%, which is about four times higher than for per-oral administration.