Anaïs M Quemener*, Marie-Dominique Galibert

ABSTRACT

As of July 25, 2020, over 643,412 individuals across 215 countries have fallen victim to the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Consequently, significant efforts are underway to develop effective strategies to treat and prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections. These efforts primarily involve drug repurposing, the use of anti-SARS- CoV-2 antibodies from recovered individuals, and the development of vaccines. However, despite these endeavors, there remains a lack of specific treatment options for SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. As a result, ongoing research continues to explore new approaches and ideas for combating SARS-CoV-2 infections. One promising approach under investigation is antisense therapy, which aims to target the genomic RNA of SARS-CoV-2 specifically and inhibit its activity by disrupting viral RNA processing. In this study, researchers have designed Antisense Oligonucleotide (ASO) candidates that target SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA. Through this process, ASOs with high scores and significant potential to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication and transcription by inducing cleavage of the viral genome were identified among the candidate ASOs. Moving forward, these promising ASOs can be synthesized, undergo necessary modifications, and be tested on SARS-CoV-2- infected Vero cells to assess their efficacy for the treatment of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2.