Cordycepin as potential treatment option for COVID-19/2019nCov/Corona virus
By: Dr. A. K. Verma, Assistant Professor, Cotton University
Cordycepin has a
long history of use for the treatment of lung diseases including chronic
bronchitis, asthma, tuberculosis and other diseases of the respiratory system,
it is worth mentioning that lung is the primary target site of nCOVID-19 therefore,
it is suggested to the world community to undertake repurposing clinical
studies to test efficacy and safety for the treatment of nCOVID-19. Cordycepin
possess structural similarity with adenosine except that, it lacks a 3′
hydroxyl group in its ribose moiety and hence it served as a poly(A)
polymerase inhibitor, induced shortening of poly(A) tails, destabilization of
mRNAs, inhibits purine biosynthesis and premature termination of protein
synthesis. It is known that during replication in nCOVID-19, full-length (-)
RNA copies of the genome are synthesized leading to all viral proteins and if cordycepin
can destabilize nCOVID-19 RNA then it may be a breakthrough in terms of
inhibition of viral replication and multiplication in the host.
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