Therapeutic Modalities for Sars-Cov-2 (Covid-19): Current Status and Role of Protease Inhibitors to Block Viral Entry Into Host Cells

An acute respiratory disease (SARS-CoV-2, also recognized as COVID-19/2019-nCoV), caused by nCoV created a worldwide emergency The World Health Organization declared the SARS-CoV-2 as epidemic of international concern on January 2020 After SARS-CoV in 2002 and MERS-CoV in 2012, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 is marked as third highly pathogenic coronavirus of 21st century Till now, various researches have been conducted, highlighting SARS-CoV-2 as β-coronavirus with high phylogenetic and genomic similarity with bat-CoV, indicating bats as natural reservoir of coronaviruses It has also been confirmed that SARS-CoV-2 uses the same (ACE2) receptor for host cellular entry as of SARS-CoV, and primarily spread through respiratory pathway Evidences shows continuous human-to-human viral transfer, with numerous worldwide exported cases Currently, there is no specific approved drug available for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, but various anti-parasitic and anti-viral drugs are being investigated In this review, we have described several possible therapeutic modalities for SARS-CoV-2 infection based on (i) host protease inhibitors to block viral entry into the cell;(ii) gene silencing using siRNA-based RNAi and (iii) type I interferons (IFN1)-based therapeutics have been discussed in detail Background knowledge on these strategies highlight them as potential therapeutic targets, which could be evaluated on urgent basis to combat COVID-19 epidemic