Scientific research progress of COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 in the first five months

Abstract

A cluster of pneumonia (COVID-19) cases have been found in Wuhan China in late December, 2019, and subsequently, a novel coronavirus with a positive stranded RNA was identified to be the aetiological virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2), which has a phylogenetic similarity to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). SARS-CoV-2 transmits mainly through droplets and close contact and the elder or people with chronic diseases are high-risk population. People affected by SARS-CoV-2 can be asymptomatic, which brings about more difficulties to control the transmission. COVID-19 has become pandemic rapidly after onset, and so far the infected people have been above 2 000 000 and more than 130 000 died worldwide according to COVID-19 situation dashboard of World Health Organization (https://covid19.who.int). Here, we summarized the current known knowledge regarding epidemiological, pathogenesis, pathology, clinical features, comorbidities and treatment of COVID-19/ SARS-CoV-2 as reference for the prevention and control COVID-19.

Figure 1

The distribution of virus submitted by different regions. In the world, China, United Kingdom and United States have uploaded 569, 3521 and 2022 virus sequences, respectively

Figure 2

The mechanism of SARS‐CoV‐2 and ACE2 interaction based on renin‐angiotensin‐aldosterone system (RAAS) and potential therapeutic strategies in COVID‐19. SARS‐CoV‐2 invades cells via ACE2 receptor, which may lead to the down‐regulation of ACE2 expression. The down‐regulation of ACE2 expression could destroy the balance between ACE/ACE2 and lead to the tissue injury. Potential therapeutic approaches include a SARS‐CoV‐2 spike protein‐based vaccine and small‐molecule inhibitors to block the interaction between S protein and ACE2