Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 21, 2025

Engineering Antiviral Agents via Surface Plasmon Resonance
Published on: June 14, 2022
Lectins Are the Sparkle of Hope for Combating Coronaviruses and the Global COVID-19
Heba Salah Abbas1, Muddukrishnaiah Kotakonda2
1Microbiology Department, National Organization for Drug Control and Research (NODCAR), Egyptian Drug Authority, Giza, Egypt.
Abstract:
Today the crisis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents a threatworldwide because it is a leading cause of human morbidity and mortality. Besides, it possessesa destroying impact on countries' economies. Therefore, there is an urgent need for hardresearch work and global collaboration to find a potential therapy. In this review, structuralgenomic variations in COVID-19 and further therapeutic options of Coronaviridae family orCOVID-19 are expressed. Lectins are natural proteins, which can exist in algae, higher plants,banana, actinomycetes, fungi, and archaea, and they have antiviral properties. Griffithsin lectin,isolated from red algae, has noteworthy efficacy against lethal SARS-CoV infection, humancoronaviruses, and other animal coronaviruses. Furthermore, all mannose-specific plant lectinshave anti-coronaviruses properties except for garlic lectins. However, lectins from mushroomscan act as immunomodulators by activating T-lymphocyte or stimulating dendrites or cytokines.The lectin may hinder glucans on viral spike protein and prevent entry and the virus's release.Lectin's anti-coronavirus activities include a glimmer of hope to tackle the global COVID-19crisis and inspire more scientific work on carbohydrate-binding agents against SARS-CoV-2.
Related Concept Videos
Conjugated Proteins
Nucleoproteins are protein complexes that contain nucleic acids, categorized as deoxyribonucleoproteins (DNPs) or ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) respectively. The nucleosome is a typical example of a DNP where nuclear DNA is associated with histone proteins. The major antigen for the Covid-19 virus SARS-CoV is an RNP that is critical...
Selectins
Antimicrobial Proteins
Interferons
Interferons (IFNs) are proteins produced by lymphocytes, macrophages, and fibroblasts infected with viruses. While IFNs cannot prevent viruses from entering and...
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
There are many different types of ELISAs, but they all involve an antibody molecule whose constant region binds an enzyme, leaving the variable region free to bind its specific antigen. Enzyme-substrate reaction allows the antigen to be visualized or...

