Open AccessNo small matter: a perspective on nanotechnology-enabled solutions to fight COVID-19
Author(s) -
Georgia Wilson Jones,
Marco P. Monopoli,
Luisa Campagnolo,
Antonio Pietroiusti,
Lang Tran,
Bengt Fadeel
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nanomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.947
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1748-6963
pISSN - 1743-5889
DOI - 10.2217/nnm-2020-0286
Subject(s) - nanomedicine , covid-19 , nanotoxicology , pandemic , limiting , disease , nanotechnology , virus , medicine , intensive care medicine , virology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , nanoparticle , outbreak , engineering , materials science , pathology , mechanical engineering
There is an urgent need for safe and effective approaches to combat COVID-19. Here, we asked whether lessons learned from nanotoxicology and nanomedicine could shed light on the current pandemic. SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent, may trigger a mild, self-limiting disease with respiratory symptoms, but patients may also succumb to a life-threatening systemic disease. The host response to the virus is equally complex and studies are now beginning to unravel the immunological correlates of COVID-19. Nanotechnology can be applied for the delivery of antiviral drugs or other repurposed drugs. Moreover, recent work has shown that synthetic nanoparticles wrapped with host-derived cellular membranes may prevent virus infection. We posit that nanoparticles decorated with ACE2, the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, could be exploited as decoys to intercept the virus before it infects cells in the respiratory tract. However, close attention should be paid to biocompatibility before such nano-decoys are deployed in the clinic.