Rabaan Ali A, Al-Ahmed Shamsah H, Haque Shafiul, Sah Ranjit, Tiwari Ruchi, Malik Yashpal Singh, Dhama Kuldeep, Yatoo M Iqbal, Bonilla-Aldana D Katterine, Rodriguez-Morales Alfonso J
Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Paediatric Medicine, Qatif Central Hospital, Qatif, Saudi Arabia.
Infez Med. 2020;28(2):174-184.
The recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 that started in Wuhan, China, has now spread to several other countries and is in its exponential phase of spread. Although less pathogenic than SARS-CoV, it has taken several lives and taken down the economies of many countries. Before this outbreak, the most recent coronavirus outbreaks were the SARS-CoV and the MERS-CoV outbreaks that happened in China and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Since the SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the same family as of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, they share several similarities. So, this review aims at understanding the new scenario of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and compares the epidemiology, clinical presentations, and the genetics of these coronaviruses. Studies reveal that SARS-CoV-2 is very similar in structure and pathogenicity with SARS-CoV, but the most important structural protein, i.e., the spike protein (S), is slightly different in these viruses. The presence of a furin-like cleavage site in SARS-CoV-2 facilitates the S protein priming and might increase the efficiency of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 as compared to other beta coronaviruses. So, furin inhibitors can be targeted as potential drug therapies for SARS-CoV.
近期始于中国武汉的新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）疫情现已蔓延至其他多个国家，正处于指数级传播阶段。尽管其致病性低于严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒（SARS-CoV），但已导致多人死亡，并使许多国家的经济受到冲击。在此次疫情爆发之前，最近的冠状病毒疫情分别是在中国发生的SARS-CoV疫情和在沙特阿拉伯发生的中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）疫情。由于SARS-CoV-2与SARS-CoV和MERS-CoV属于同一家族，它们有若干相似之处。因此，本综述旨在了解SARS-CoV-2疫情的新情况，并比较这些冠状病毒的流行病学、临床表现和遗传学。研究表明，SARS-CoV-2在结构和致病性方面与SARS-CoV非常相似，但这些病毒中最重要的结构蛋白，即刺突蛋白（S）略有不同。SARS-CoV-2中存在类弗林蛋白酶切割位点有助于S蛋白启动，与其他β冠状病毒相比，可能会提高SARS-CoV-2的传播效率。因此，弗林蛋白酶抑制剂可作为SARS-CoV潜在的药物治疗靶点。
