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Review
. 2021:2:100062.
doi: 10.1016/j.crphar.2021.100062. Epub 2021 Oct 5.

Can the application of graphene oxide contribute to the fight against COVID-19? Antiviral activity, diagnosis and prevention

Asmaa Rhazouani  1   2   3 , Khalid Aziz  4 , Halima Gamrani  2 , Lhoucine Gebrati  5 , Md Sahab Uddin  6   7 , Aziz Faissal  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Can the application of graphene oxide contribute to the fight against COVID-19? Antiviral activity, diagnosis and prevention

Asmaa Rhazouani et al. Curr Res Pharmacol Drug Discov. 2021.

Abstract

COVID-19 is an infectious disease that affects the respiratory system and is caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. It was first reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019, and has affected the entire world. This pandemic has caused serious health, economic and social problems. In this situation, the only solution to combat COVID-19 is to accelerate the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines to mitigate the virus and develop better antiviral methods and excellent diagnostic and prevention techniques. With the development of nanotechnology, nanoparticles are being introduced to control COVID-19. Graphene oxide (GO), an oxidized derivative of graphene, is currently used in the medical field to treat certain diseases such as cancer. It is characterized by very important antiviral properties that allow its use in treating certain infectious diseases. The GO antiviral mechanism is discussed by the virus inactivation and/or the host cell receptor or by the physicochemical destruction of viral species. Moreover, the very high surface/volume ratio of GO allows the fixation of biomolecules by simple absorption. This paper summarizes the different studies performed on GO's antiviral activities and discusses GO-based biosensors for virus detection and approaches for prevention.

Keywords: Antiviral activity; Biosensors; COVID-19; Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; Detection; Graphene oxide; Pandemic; Prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Symptoms of COVID-19.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 entry into the cell. 1 Spike protein on the virion binds to ACE2. TMPRSS2, an enzyme, helps the virion enter. 2 The virion releases its RNA. 3 Some RNA is translated into proteins by cell machinery. 4 Some of these proteins form a replication complex to make more RNA. 5 Proteins and RNA are assembled into a new virion in the Golgi and 6 Released.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Description of the main mechanisms of GO's antiviral activity, a) including virus inactivation, b) viral binding inhibition, c) photodegradation and d) electrostatic trapping.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Representative uses of GO to combat viruses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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