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Letter To Editor | Open Access2020|Volume 2|Issue 2| https://doi.org/10.37191/Mapsci-2582-385X-2(1)-024

Treatment Options in COVID-19: The Role of Bioavailable Antiviral Ribonucleoside Analog on NHC in Vitro

ReceivedApr 14, 2020RevisedApr 15, 2020AcceptedApr 23, 2020PublishedApr 27, 2020


Stefan Bittmann, Anne Weissenstein, Gloria Villalon, Elena Moschüring-Alieva, Lara Bittmann and Elisabeth Luchter

Department of Pediatrics, Ped Mind Institute (PMI), Gronau, Germany

*Corresponding Author: Stefan Bittmann, Head of the Department of Pediatrics and Ped Mind Institute (PMI) Pediatrician, Hindenburgring 4, D-48599 Gronau, Germany.

Received Date: 04-14-2020; Published Date: 04-27-2020

Copyright© 2020 by Bittmann S, et al. All rights reserved. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Keywords

Pneumonia; China; WHO; COVID-19; Coronavirus Disease; Infection; SARS-CoV-2.

Letter to the Editor

On December 31, 2019, WHO was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan City, China. A novel coronavirus was identified as the cause by Chinese authorities on January 7, 2020 and was provisionally named "2019-nCoV". This new Coronavirus causes a clinical picture which has received now the name COVID-19. The virus has spread subsequently worldwide and was explained on the 11th of March, 2020 by the World Health Organization to the pandemic. There is no admitted therapy for COVID-19, and the present standard of treatment is the supporting treatment. SARS CoV 2 uses the cell entry receptor protein to Angiotensin-Converting enzyme II (ACE-2) to reach human cells and to infect [2].  What we know is that SARS-CoV-2 needs for entry in the cell (Pneumocytes II) the help of a serine protease TMPRSS2 and cathepsin L [2-4]. Since the outbreak in China in December 2019 researchers searching for adequate therapy to control viral spreading and to inhibit COVID-19 effectively. To date, no effective drug to treat this severe viral infection was found. Publications about angiotensin II receptor blocker reveal a new effective method to think about in treating COVID-19 [6-10]. Moreover, different therapy options were started to stop the devastating potential of COVID-19 worldwide. Antibody-rich donated plasma from survivors, different inhibitors are part of analysis to stop the entry of the virus into the cell and disturb the connection between SARS-CoV-2 and angiotensin-2 receptor binding. A new orally bioavailable broad-spectrum antiviral inhibits was found in SARS CoV-2 in human airway epithelial cell structures and in different coronaviruses in mice and published in SCIENCE [5]. In this publication, the ribonucleoside analog beta-D-N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC, EIDD 1931) had great potential and antiviral potency against SARS-CoV-2. The results of Timothy Sheahan`s work and his colleagues highlight the potential utility as an effective antiviral drug against COVID-19 corona virus in vitro [5]. As a consequence, further off-label trials in severe COVID-19 patients must follow.

References

1. Simmons G. Characterization of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) spike glycomediated viral entry. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2004;101:4240-45.

2. Hoffmann M, Kleine-Weber H, Schroeder S. SARS-CoV-2 cell entry depends on ACE2 and TMPRSS2 and is blocked by clinically proven protease inhibitor. Cell. 2020;181:1-10. 

3. Coote K, Atherton-Watson HC, Sugar R, et al. Camostat attenuates airway epithelial sodium channel function in vivo through the inhibition of a channel-activating protease. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2009;329(2):764-74. 

4. Simmons G, Rosalia DN, Rennekamp AJ, Reves JD, Diamond SL. Bates P: Inhibitors of cathepsin L prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus entry. PNAS. 2005;102(33):11876-81.

5. Sheehan TP, Sims AC, Zhou S, Graham RL, Pruijssers AJ, Agostini ML, et al. An orally bioavailable broad-spectrum antiviral inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in human airway epithelial cell cultures and multiple coronaviruses in mice. Sci. Transl Med. 2020.

6. Bittmann S, Luchter E, Moschüring-Alieva E, Villalon G. Covid-19-The Role of Children and Search for Effective Treatment Options with Promising view to Angiotensin II Inhibitors. Am J Biomed Sci Res. 2020;8(4).

7. Bittmann S. COVID-19 in Adults and Children: The Clock is Ticking. J Regen Biol Med. 2020;2(2):1-2. 

8. F Jiao, Bittmann S. A new classification of clinical findings and treatment options of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children from China. Adv Pediatr Res. 2020.

9. Bittmann S, Luchter E, Villalon G, Moschüring-Alieva E, Weissenstein A. Clinical Landmarks of COVID-19 in Newborn, Children and Teenagers. J Pediatric Health Nutri. 2020;1(3):1-2.

10. Bittmann S. COVID-19: What We Know. J Pediatric Health Nutri. 2020.


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