SARS-CoV-2: Mechanism of infection and emerging technologies for future prospects.

ABSTRACT

The novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally to over 200 countries with more than 23 million confirmed cases and at least 800,000 fatalities as of 23 August 2020. Declared a pandemic on March 11 by World Health Organization, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has become a global public health crisis that challenged all national healthcare systems. This review summarized the current knowledge about virologic and pathogenic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 with emphasis on potential immunomodulatory mechanism and drug development. With multiple emerging technologies and cross-disciplinary approaches proving to be crucial in our global response against COVID-19, the application of PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras strategy, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, and Single-Nucleotide-Specific Programmable Riboregulators technology in developing antiviral drugs and detecting infectious diseases are proposed here. We also discussed the available but still limited epidemiology of COVID-19 as well as the ongoing efforts on vaccine development. In brief, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and reviewed the therapeutic options for COVID-19. We also proposed key research directions in the future that may help uncover more underlying molecular mechanisms governing the pathology of COVID-19.