Snigdha Ghosh, Amity University Kolkata
COVID-19 pandemic has spread tremors around the globe within a few months and this December 2020, it’s going to be one year that we all are combating to formulate and identify such effective drugs against it.
Research and multiple clinical trials proved that some anti-viral drugs like – (Remdesivir, Chloroquine) possess the potentiality to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in-vitro, further studies are being done to note down the effects under in-vivo conditions as well.
Large screening methods like, CPE based HTS (High-throughput Screening) assays on Vero E6 cells are being conducted to discover some most constructive drugs that can prevent the cytotoxicity caused by SARS-CoV-2.
Based on HTS assay it was screened that a collection of natural compounds library containing 1058 new compounds, among which 30 hits can inhibit the SARS-CoV-2. Out of which, 6 hits work on ion-channels and 4 hits are Cardiac glycosides. They hold the ability to block the infection by downregulating some key signalling pathways like- (JAK/STAT, Nrf2, MAPK, NF-κB) in a dose-dependent manner.
Furthermore, some Cardiac glycosides showcase the inhibitory effects or anti-viral effects on MERS-CoV. Experiments were done to find out similar effects on SARS-CoV-2 and it was proved that Cardiac glycosides (Bufalin, Digoxin) can retard the growth of the infection, as it put a hindrance in Na2+/k+ – ATPase ion-transport channel-mediated Src pathway.
Thus, various investigations are done to design the most efficient drug that can block these signaling pathways and help to treat COVID patients.
Also read: Climate change and Antibiotic resistance development
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