Angiotensin-(1-7) for COVID-19

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected all of humanity since the first case was reported and spread rapidly around the world, creating a pandemic. Despite the repurposing of many drugs and the development of vaccines, effective treatment and protection are limited. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 continues to be a current public health problem with complications, identifying cases of long-term Covid syndrome, and detection of vaccine-related adverse events. It can be said that the most important factor underlying all these problems is that the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is not completely understood despite extensive research. Although different disciplines have limited determinations from their own perspectives regarding the communication with RAAS, it has not been sufficiently expressed in a way to see the whole picture. In this study, it is tried to see the whole picture in the interaction of RAAS and SARS-CoV-2. It is detected inadequacies in treatments and interactions that may be design errors in vaccines. These determinations also show that our templates for producing treatments are not sufficient. For this reason, we have to develop our templates with what we have learned specifically about SARS-CoV-2. Considering the accuracy of our hypothesis on the SARS-CoV-2 - RAAS relationship, Ang(1-7) can be considered a strong option for treatment. Although the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic seems to be over, epidemics and even new pandemics are likely to occur with new mutations.

Viruses with rapid replication and easy mutation can become resistant to antiviral drug treatment. With novel viral infections emerging, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, novel antiviral therapies are urgently needed. Antiviral proteins, such as interferon, have been used for treating chronic hepatitis C infections for decades. Natural-origin antimicrobial peptides, such as defensins, have also been identified as possessing antiviral activities, including direct antiviral effects and the ability to induce indirect immune responses to viruses. To promote the development of antiviral drugs, we constructed a data repository of antiviral peptides and proteins (DRAVP). The database provides general information, antiviral activity, structure information, physicochemical information, and literature information for peptides and proteins. Because most of the proteins and peptides lack experimentally determined structures, AlphaFold was used to predict each antiviral peptide’s structure. A free website for users (http://dravp.cpu-bioinfor.org/, accessed on 30 August 2022) was constructed to facilitate data retrieval and sequence analysis. Additionally, all the data can be accessed from the web interface. The DRAVP database aims to be a useful resource for developing antiviral drugs.