Coronaviruses are dangerous human and animal pathogens. The newly identified coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19 outbreak, which is a real threat to human health and life. The world has been struggling with this epidemic for about a year, yet there are still no targeted drugs and effective treatments are very limited. Due to the long process of developing new drugs, reposition of existing ones is one of the best ways to deal with an epidemic of emergency infectious diseases. Among the existing drugs, there are candidates potentially able to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 replication, and thus inhibit the infection of the virus. Some therapeutics target several proteins, and many diseases share molecular paths. In such cases, the use of existing pharmaceuticals for more than one purpose can reduce the time needed to design new drugs. The aim of this review was to analyze the key targets of viral infection and potential drugs acting on them, as well as to discuss various strategies and therapeutic approaches, including the possible use of natural products. We highlighted the approach based on increasing the involvement of human deaminases, particularly APOBEC deaminases in editing of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. This can reduce the cytosine content in the viral genome, leading to the loss of its integrity. We also indicated the nucleic acid technologies as potential approaches for COVID-19 treatment. Among numerous promising natural products, we pointed out curcumin and cannabidiol as good candidates for being anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Human APOBEC deaminases may reduce the cytosine content in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. • Human APOBEC deaminases may cause the loss of SARS-CoV-2 genome integrity. • Strategies based on nucleic acid technologies can be useful for COVID-19 treatment. • Natural products can be a base for specific drugs against SARS-CoV-2 development. • Curcumin and cannabidiol are good candidates for being anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Curcumin, natural products, APOBEC, Deamination, Therapeutic nucleotides, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, viral infection, Diseases, Human, Infection, Strategy, drugs, Proteins, drug, virus, coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, anti-SARS-CoV-2, Replication, nucleic acid, Epidemic, Health, COVID-19 outbreak, SARS-CoV-2 genome, target, Pathogens, SARS-CoV-2 RNA, molecular, disease, Image, viral genome, cytosine, natural, Abstract, therapeutic approaches, candidate, approach, effective, indicated, inhibit, reduce, acting, the SARS-CoV-2, the SARS-CoV-2 genome, 【제목키워드】 Protein, small molecule,