Nano-targeting lessons from the SARS-CoV-2
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Mateus Borba Cardoso; Iris Renata Sousa Ribeiro; Camila P. Silveira; R.F. da Silva; Flávia Elisa Galdino
- Source
- Nano Today
- Subject
- 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak
Opinion
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Biomedical Engineering
Target nanomedicine
Pharmaceutical Science
Nanotechnology
Bioengineering
02 engineering and technology
010402 general chemistry
01 natural sciences
Functionalized nanoparticles
Viral scaffold
General Materials Science
ComputingMethodologies_COMPUTERGRAPHICS
Targeting
Chemistry
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
0104 chemical sciences
Nanoparticle functionalization
Surface organization
Responsive targeting
0210 nano-technology
Biotechnology
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1748-0132
Graphical abstract
Highlights • The new coronavirus can be regarded as a highly efficient targeted nanoparticle. • The SARS-CoV-2 tropism is favored by the viral surface organization. • S protein suffers on-site changes that feature a natural example of responsive targeting. • Nanoparticle functionalization results in non-homogeneous ligand arrangement. • Surface organization and stimuli-responsiveness may be key for bio-nanoparticles.
The lack of targeting efficacy has frequently led functionalized nanoparticles to accumulate in unwanted cells and tissues while boosting toxicity-related effects. Conversely, viruses are natural nanoparticles that precisely and responsively interact with the biological machinery through an effective-driven fashion. This interaction is enhanced by a meticulous spatial arrangement which results in a quasi-crystalline distribution of proteins on the viruses’ surface. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we propose to look at the SARS-CoV-2 nanoscale viral scaffold as an example of a highly-ordered architecture that must inspire and tailor the production of targeted synthetic nanoparticles.