Acta Scientific Microbiology (ISSN: 2581-3226)

Review Article Volume 5 Issue 2

Griffithsin; A Potential Therapeutic Agent for SARS-CoV-2

Saba Siddiqui1 and Armin Ahmed2*

1Associate Professor and Head, Department of Agriculture, Integral Institute of Agricultural science and technology (IIAST), Lucknow, India

2Associate Professor, Department of Critical Care Medicine, King George Medical University, Lucknow, India

*Corresponding Author: Armin Ahmed, Associate Professor, Department of Critical Care Medicine, King George Medical University, Lucknow, India. E-mail: drarminahmed@gmail.com

Received: December 09, 2021; Published: January 27, 2022

Abstract

>Griffithsin is a red algal protein with promising broad-spectrum antiviral action. It exists as a homodimer, and every monomer has three monosaccharide binding sites arranged as an equatorial triangle. It acts in the early part of the viral disease by hampering viral entry inside the cell. Envelop protein of many viruses shows rich glycosylation with mannose which binds with monosaccharide binding sites of Griffithsin in a multivalent binding fashion, thus bringing changes that interfere with the host cell invasion. Previous in-vitro and in-vivo studies on SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV have shown excellent inhibitory action on these viruses with no or minimal toxicity. It has also been studied for its synergistic antiviral action with Carrageenan (another algal derivative) and EK1 (a pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitor). There is growing interest in Griffithsin as a prophylactic and therapeutic option for the current COVID 19 pandemic due to its potent action, topical application causing inhibition of viral entry, safety profile, chemical stability, easy large-scale production, and synergistic action with other antiviral agents.

Keywords: Griffithsin; Coronaviruses; SARS-CoV; SARS-CoV-2

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Citation

Citation: Saba Siddiqui and Armin Ahmed. “Griffithsin; A Potential Therapeutic Agent for SARS-CoV-2". Acta Scientific Microbiology 5.2 (2022): 82-87.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Saba Siddiqui and Armin Ahmed. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.




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