Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Darwin 3, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
Department of Immunology, Oncology and Nanobiomedicine Initiative, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Darwin 3, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
J Nanobiotechnology. 2022 Jul 30;20(1):352. doi: 10.1186/s12951-022-01542-2.
Coronaviruses usually cause mild respiratory disease in humans but as seen recently, some human coronaviruses can cause more severe diseases, such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the global spread of which has resulted in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In this study we analyzed the potential of using iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) coated with biocompatible molecules like dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APS) or carboxydextran (FeraSpin™ R), as well as iron oxyhydroxide nanoparticles (IOHNPs) coated with sucrose (Venofer), or iron salts (ferric ammonium citrate -FAC), to treat and/or prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. At non-cytotoxic doses, IONPs and IOHNPs impaired virus replication and transcription, and the production of infectious viruses in vitro, either when the cells were treated prior to or after infection, although with different efficiencies. Moreover, our data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection affects the expression of genes involved in cellular iron metabolism. Furthermore, the treatment of cells with IONPs and IOHNPs affects oxidative stress and iron metabolism to different extents, likely influencing virus replication and production. Interestingly, some of the nanoparticles used in this work have already been approved for their use in humans as anti-anemic treatments, such as the IOHNP Venofer, and as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging in small animals like mice, such as the FeraSpin™ R IONP.
Therefore, our results suggest that IONPs and IOHNPs may be repurposed to be used as prophylactic or therapeutic treatments in order to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection.
冠状病毒通常会导致人类患上轻度呼吸道疾病，但最近的情况表明，一些人类冠状病毒可能会导致更严重的疾病，如严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）。这种病毒在全球范围内传播，导致了持续的冠状病毒大流行。
在这项研究中，我们分析了使用氧化铁纳米粒子（IONPs）的可能性，这些纳米粒子涂有生物相容性分子，如二巯丁二酸（DMSA）、3-氨丙基三乙氧基硅烷（APS）或羧基葡聚糖（FeraSpin™ R），以及涂有蔗糖（Venofer）、或铁盐（柠檬酸铁铵-FAC）的水铁矿纳米粒子（IOHNPs），以治疗和/或预防 SARS-CoV-2 感染。在非细胞毒性剂量下，IONPs 和 IOHNPs 可在体外破坏病毒复制和转录，并阻止感染性病毒的产生，无论是在细胞感染前还是感染后进行处理，尽管效率不同。此外，我们的数据表明，SARS-CoV-2 感染会影响参与细胞铁代谢的基因表达。此外，IONPs 和 IOHNPs 的处理会在不同程度上影响氧化应激和铁代谢，这可能会影响病毒的复制和产生。有趣的是，本研究中使用的一些纳米粒子已经被批准用于人类治疗贫血，如 IOHNP Venofer，以及作为小动物（如小鼠）磁共振成像的造影剂，如 FeraSpin™ R IONP。
因此，我们的结果表明，IONPs 和 IOHNPs 可能被重新用于预防或治疗 SARS-CoV-2 感染。
