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Review
. 2021 May;41(3):1775-1797.
doi: 10.1002/med.21776. Epub 2021 Jan 3.

Therapeutic targets and potential agents for the treatment of COVID-19

Yinuo Wu  1 , Zhe Li  1 , Yun-Song Zhao  1 , Yi-You Huang  1 , Mei-Yan Jiang  1 , Hai-Bin Luo  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Therapeutic targets and potential agents for the treatment of COVID-19

Yinuo Wu et al. Med Res Rev. 2021 May.

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, has become a global crisis. As of November 9, COVID-19 has already spread to more than 190 countries with 50,000,000 infections and 1,250,000 deaths. Effective therapeutics and drugs are in high demand. The structure of SARS-CoV-2 is highly conserved with those of SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome-CoV. Enzymes, including RdRp, Mpro /3CLpro , and PLpro , which play important roles in viral transcription and replication, have been regarded as key targets for therapies against coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The identification of readily available drugs for repositioning in COVID-19 therapy is a relatively rapid approach for clinical treatment, and a series of approved or candidate drugs have been proven to be efficient against COVID-19 in preclinical or clinical studies. This review summarizes recent progress in the development of drugs against SARS-CoV-2 and the targets involved.

Keywords: COVID-19; Mpro; PLpro; RdRp; SARS-CoV-2; dipyridamole; drug targets; potential agents; remdesivir.

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