Insights from Pharmaceutical Biotechnology into Phenolic Biopharmaceuticals against COVID-19

Title:Insights from Pharmaceutical Biotechnology into Phenolic Biopharmaceuticals against COVID-19

Volume: 22 Issue: 14

Author(s): Nidia Cabral-Hipólito, Brenda Molina-Ramírez, María-de-la-Luz Sevilla-González, Rocío Meza-Velázquez, Rubén García-Garza, Sergio-Everardo Velázquez Gauna, Irais Castillo-Maldonado, Dealmy Delgadillo-Guzmán, Mario-Alberto Rivera-Guillén*, Luis-Benjamín Serrano-Gallardo, María-del-Carmen Vega-Menchaca, Agustina Ramírez-Moreno and David Pedroza-Escobar*

Affiliation:

• Department of Biochemistry, Biomedical Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila Unidad Torreon, Torreon,Mexico

• Department of Biochemistry, Biomedical Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila Unidad Torreon, Torreon,Mexico

Keywords: Pharmaceutical biotechnology, phenolics, biopharmaceuticals, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, protein-based therapeutics.

Abstract:

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had infected more than 3.5M people around the world and more than 250K people died in 187 countries by May 2020. The causal agent of this disease is a coronavirus whose onset of symptoms to death range from 6 to 41 days with a median of 14 days. This period is dependent on several factors such as the presence of comorbidities, age and the efficiency of the innate or adaptive immune responses.

Methods: The effector mechanisms of both types of immune responses depend on the pathogen involved. In the case of a viral infection, the innate immune response may approach the harmful virus through pattern recognition receptors inducing an antiviral state.

Results: On the other hand, the adaptive immune response activates antibody production to neutralize or eliminate the virus. Phenolics are plant secondary metabolites with many biological activities for plants and humans against infection. Chemical modification of proteins may enhance their biological properties; thus, a protein of medical interest, for instance, a viral protein can be used as a scaffold to build a biopharmaceutical conjugated or complexated with phenolics exhibiting structural complexity or biological activities to achieve effective phenolic-protein-based therapeutics like vaccine adjuvant complexes, immunogen conjugates, and antiviral conjugates.

Conclusion: Pharmaceutical biotechnology applies the principles of biotechnology to develop biopharmaceuticals for protein-based therapeutics; such as adjuvants, recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, and antivirals. As neither a vaccine nor a treatment for COVID-19 is currently available, this manuscript focuses on insights from pharmaceutical biotechnology into phenolic biopharmaceuticals against COVID-19.

Cite this article as:

Cabral-Hipólito Nidia , Molina-Ramírez Brenda, María-de-la-Luz Sevilla-González , Meza-Velázquez Rocío , García-Garza Rubén , Velázquez Gauna Sergio-Everardo , Castillo-Maldonado Irais , Delgadillo-Guzmán Dealmy, Rivera-Guillén Mario-Alberto *, Serrano-Gallardo Luis-Benjamín , María-del-Carmen Vega-Menchaca , Ramírez-Moreno Agustina and Pedroza-Escobar David *, Insights from Pharmaceutical Biotechnology into Phenolic Biopharmaceuticals against COVID-19, Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology 2021; 22 (14) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1389201021666201104144509