International Journal of Nanomedicine (Nov 2020)
Silver-Based Nanomaterials as Therapeutic Agents Against Coronaviruses: A Review
Abstract
Chanchal Das,1 Subha Sankar Paul,2 Arighna Saha,1 Tejinder Singh,3 Abhijit Saha,4 Jungkyun Im,3,5 Goutam Biswas1 1Department of Chemistry, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, Cooch Behar, West Bengal 736101, India; 2Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; 3Department of Electronic Materials and Devices Engineering, Soonchunhyang University, Asan 31538, Republic of Korea; 4Chemistry Department, UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Kolkata 700106, India; 5Department of Chemical Engineering, Soonchunhyang University, Asan 31538, Republic of KoreaCorrespondence: Jungkyun ImDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Soonchunhyang University, 22 Soonchunhyangro, Asan 31538, Republic of KoreaEmail [email protected] BiswasDepartment of Chemistry, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, Cooch Behar, West Bengal 736101, IndiaEmail [email protected]: Since the identification of the first human coronavirus in the 1960s, a total of six coronaviruses that are known to affect humans have been identified: 229E, OC43, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), NL63, HKU1, and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Presently, the human world is affected by a novel version of the coronavirus family known as SARS-CoV-2, which has an extremely high contagion rate. Although the infection fatality rate (IFR) of this rapidly spreading virus is not high (ranging from 0.00% to 1.54% across 51 different locations), the increasing number of infections and deaths has created a worldwide pandemic situation. To provide therapy to severely infected patients, instant therapeutic support is urgently needed and the repurposing of already approved drugs is presently in progress. In this regard, the development of nanoparticles as effective transporters for therapeutic drugs or as alternative medicines is highly encouraged and currently needed. The size range of the viruses is within 60– 140 nm, which is slightly larger than the diameters of nanoparticles, making nanomaterials efficacious tools with antiviral properties. Silver-based nanomaterials (AgNMs) demonstrate antimicrobial and disinfectant effects mostly by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) and are presently considered as a versatile tool for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Other metal-based nanoparticles have been primarily reported as delivery agents or surface modifying agents, vaccine adjuvant against coronavirus. The present review summarizes and discusses the possible effectiveness of various surface-modified AgNMs against animal coronaviruses and presents a concept for AgNM-based therapeutic treatment of SARS-CoV-2 in the near future.Keywords: silver nanomaterials, coronavirus, silver nanocomposites, antiviral, SARS-CoV
