Containing the spread of COVID-19 virus facing to its high mutation rate: approach to intervention using a nonspecific way of blocking its entry into the cells

Abstract

Viruses have multiple mutation rates that are higher than any other member of the kingdom of life. This gives them the ability to evolve, even within the course of a single infection, and to evade multiple host defenses, thereby impacting pathogenesis. Additionally, there are also interplays between mutation and recombination and the high multiplicity of infection (MOI) that enhance viral adaptability and increase levels of recombination leading to complex and conflicting effects on genome selection, and the net results is difficult to predict. Recently, the outbreak of COVID-19 virus represents a pandemic threat that has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. Up to present, however, due to the high mutation rate of COVID-19 virus, there are no effective procedures to contain the spread of this virus across the globe. For such a purpose, there is then an urgent need to explore new approaches. As an opinion, the present approach emphasizes on (a) the use of a nonspecific way of blocking the entry of COVID-19 virus as well as its variants into the cells via a therapeutic biocompatible compound (ideally, “in a pill”) targeting its spike (S) glycoprotein; and (b) the construction of expression vectors via the glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol, GPI, anchor for studying intermolecular interactions between the spike S of COVID-19 virus as well as its variants and the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) of its host receptor for checking the efficacy of any therapeutic biocompatible compound of the nonspecific way of blocking. Such antiviral drug would be safer than the ACE1 and ACE2 inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, and recombinant human ACE2 as well as nucleoside analogs or protease inhibitors used for fighting the spread of the virus inside the cells, and it would also be used as a universal one for any eventual future pandemic related to viruses, especially the RNA viruses with high mutation rates.

Keywords:

• RNA viruses
• DNA viruses
• Natural selection
• Viral evolution
• Mutation rates
• RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp)
• Mutation
• Recombination
• Multiplicity of infection (MOI)
• Vaccines
• Antiviral drugs
• COVID-19 virus
• Omicron variant (B.1.1.529 variant)
• IHU (B.1.640.2 variant)
• Spike (S) glycoprotein
• Angiotensin-converting enzyme 1 (ACE1)
• Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)
• Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs)
• Recombinant human ACE2
• Nonspecific way of blocking the entry of COVID-19 virus
• Therapeutic biocompatible compound
• Expression vectors
• Glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol
• GPI
• anchor

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.