Research progress in emerging nanotechnologies for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of respiratory viruses
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Respiratory virus infections have not only caused a significant obstacle to global public health security, but also exerted a profound influence on the social economy. Currently, the management of respiratory virus infections includes controlling the spread of viral infections, promptly detecting viral illnesses and providing effective antiviral therapy. However, the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of related diseases are hampered by the low effectiveness and poor durability of protective equipment, the insufficient effectiveness and safety of viral vaccines, the low sensitivity and efficiency of viral diagnostic methods, and the ineffectiveness of antiviral drugs. Nanomaterials with high specific surface area, nano-size, surface modifiability, and biocompatibility have shown great potential in virus prevention and treatment. For example, nanoparticles including metal nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, liposome nanoparticles and graphene have been used for physical prevention, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory viruses. This review summarizes a series of nanomaterial-mediated strategies in respiratory virus prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and enumerates research advances in nanomaterials for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory viruses. First, we overview the application of nanomaterials in virus protection, such as nanomaterial functional masks. These masks prolong their service life while maintaining filtration efficiency and have the effect of inhibiting viruses, which can kill viruses on masks in time to prevent secondary infections caused by virus retention. Nanomaterials have also been used to enhance the immune efficacy of vaccines and the targeted delivery of nucleic acid vaccines because they are easily taken up by immune cells and can protect the stability of the contents as carriers while delivering the contents in a targeted manner. Then, the use of nanomaterials to improve the timeliness, sensitivity and convenience of viral protein detection and nucleic acid detection is addressed in detail. Since nanomaterials have a variety of excellent properties for inhibiting viral infection, including blocking the viral binding to host receptors, preventing viral replication, and directly inactivating viruses, we finally discuss the application of nanomaterials in enhancing the therapeutic effect of antiviral drugs. For example, nano-decoys and nano-delivery platforms based on nanomaterials can also modulate cytokine levels in vivo, enabling the mitigation of cytokine storms and providing new therapeutic strategies for eradicating viral diseases. Currently, remarkable progress has been made in nanomaterials-based treatment of respiratory viruses. Numerous nanomaterials-based strategies are emerging in an endless stream. Nanomaterials not only directly inhibit the viral infections, but also play a crucial role in the diagnosis and treatment of viral infectious diseases. Despite the great potential of nanomaterials in the prevention, diagnosis and control of viruses, there are still some critical issues that limit the translation of nanomaterials into the clinics. In order to develop new nanotechnologies that are more effective, accurate, safer, simpler and cheaper than existing methods, stakeholders must form interdisciplinary collaborations throughout the development, validation, and manufacturing process. This collaborative action includes platform selection and design, test performance evaluation, production of commercial products, and the conduct of clinical trials to establish detailed and standardized evaluation protocols for the use of nanomaterial platforms to prevent, detect, and treat infectious disease outbreaks. Given the inevitability of respiratory virus pandemics, the multifunctional platform technology provided by nanomaterials will undoubtedly play a central role in future viral outbreaks and provide strong support for viral prevention and treatment.
DOI: 10.1360/tb-2024-0860
Authors: Lefan Chen, Xinyao Hu, Yuanwei Pan, Lang Rao
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4404327741