Biomolecules (Oct 2023)

An Overview of SARS-CoV-2 Etiopathogenesis and Recent Developments in COVID-19 Vaccines

  • Dona Susan Mathew,
  • Tirtha Pandya,
  • Het Pandya,
  • Yuzen Vaghela,
  • Selvakumar Subbian

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13111565
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 11
p. 1565

Abstract

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The Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has significantly impacted the health and socioeconomic status of humans worldwide. Pulmonary infection of SARS-CoV-2 results in exorbitant viral replication and associated onset of inflammatory cytokine storm and disease pathology in various internal organs. However, the etiopathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is not fully understood. Currently, there are no targeted therapies available to cure COVID-19, and most patients are treated empirically with anti-inflammatory and/or anti-viral drugs, based on the disease symptoms. Although several types of vaccines are currently implemented to control COVID-19 and prevent viral dissemination, the emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 that can evade the vaccine-induced protective immunity poses challenges to current vaccination strategies and highlights the necessity to develop better and improved vaccines. In this review, we summarize the etiopathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and elaborately discuss various types of vaccines and vaccination strategies, focusing on those vaccines that are currently in use worldwide to combat COVID-19 or in various stages of clinical development to use in humans.

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