In a new study published in the journal Pathogens, researchers have summarized the role of the macrodomain in viral replication and virulence and further reviewed the development of macrodomain inhibitors as antiviral agents.
Recently, a study has shown the possibility of repurposing hACE2 transgenic mice, primarily raised to study SARS-CoV, to support SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathogenesis.
A new study, published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology, has reported the discovery of acriflavine (ACF), an effective inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2. This drug is a mixture of trypaflavines (3,6-diamino-10-methylacridinium chloride and 3,6-diamino-3-methylacridinium chloride) and proflavine (3,6-diaminoacridine).
The last two decades have witnessed the emergence of three deadly coronaviruses (CoVs) in humans: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There are still no reliable and efficient therapeutics to manage the devastating consequences of these CoVs. Of these, SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the currently ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, has posed great global health concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented crisis with devastating socio-economic and health impacts worldwide. This highlights the fact that CoVs continue to evolve and have the genetic flexibility to become highly pathogenic in humans and other mammals. SARSCoV- 2 carries a high genetic homology to the previously identified CoV (SARS-CoV), and the immunological and pathogenic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS contain key similarities a