During a disease outbreak/pandemic situation such as COVID-19, researchers are in a prime position to identify and develop peptide-based therapies, which could be more rapidly and cost-effectively advanced into a clinical setting. One drawback of natural peptide drugs, however, is their proteolytic instability; peptidomimetics can help to overcome this caveat.

In this review, the researchers summarize peptide and peptide based therapeutics that target one main entry pathway of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which involves the host angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptor and viral spike (S) protein interaction. Furthermore, they discuss the advantages of peptidomimetics and other potential targets that have been studied using peptide-based therapeutics for COVID-19.

Title:
Evidence supporting the use of peptides and peptidomimetics as potential SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) therapeutics
Authors:
Sonya VanPatten, Mingzhu He, Ahmad Altiti, Kai F Cheng, Mustafa H Ghanem & Yousef Al-Abed
Citation:
10.4155/fmc-2020-0180
URL:
https://www.future-science.com/doi/full/10.4155/fmc-2020-0180