Middle East respiratory syndrome: pathogenesis and therapeutic developments

Hani Choudhry; Muhammed A Bakhrebah; Wesam H Abdulaal; Mazin A Zamzami; Othman A Baothman; Mohammed A Hassan; Mustafa Zeyadi; Nawal Helmi; Faisal Alzahrani; Ashraf Ali; Mohammad Khalid Zakaria; Mohammad Azhar Kamal; Mohiuddin Khan Warsi; Firoz Ahmed; Mahmood Rasool; Mohammad Sarwar Jamal

doi:10.2217/fvl-2018-0201

Middle East respiratory syndrome: pathogenesis and therapeutic developments

Future Virol. 2019 Apr;14(4):237-246. doi: 10.2217/fvl-2018-0201. Epub 2019 Apr 18.

Authors

Hani Choudhry^{1

1}, Muhammed A Bakhrebah^{2

2}, Wesam H Abdulaal^{1

1}, Mazin A Zamzami^{1

1}, Othman A Baothman^{1

1}, Mohammed A Hassan^{1

3

1

3}, Mustafa Zeyadi^{1

1}, Nawal Helmi^{1

1}, Faisal Alzahrani^{4

5

4

5}, Ashraf Ali^{4

5

6

4

5

6}, Mohammad Khalid Zakaria^{7

7}, Mohammad Azhar Kamal^{8

8}, Mohiuddin Khan Warsi^{7

7}, Firoz Ahmed^{7

7}, Mahmood Rasool^{9

9}, Mohammad Sarwar Jamal^{4

5

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry, Cancer Metabolism & Epigenetic Unit, Faculty of Science, Cancer & Mutagenesis Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
² Life Science & environment Research Institute, National Center for Genome Technology, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh 12371, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine & Health Sciences, Hadhramout University, Yemen.
⁴ Hematology Lab Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Science of Agriculture, Food and Environment (SAFE), University of Foggia, Via Napoli, 25 - 71122, Foggia, Italy.
⁷ The Pirbright Institute, Ash Road, GU240NF, Surrey, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Biochemistry, University of Jeddah, Jeddah 23890, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The first case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was identified in the year 2012, which spread rapidly and increased to more than 2200 in 2018. This highly pathogenic virus with high mortality rate is among one of the major public health concerns. Saudi Arabia remains to be the most affected region with the majority of MERS-CoV cases, and currently, no effective drugs and vaccines are available for prevention and treatment. A large amount of information is now available regarding the virus, its structure, route of transmission and its pathophysiology. Therefore, this review summarizes the current understanding of MERS-CoV's pathogenesis, treatment options and recent scientific advancements in vaccine and other therapeutic developments, and the major steps taken for MERS prevention control.

Keywords: Arabian Peninsula; MERS; SARS; Saudi Arabia; WHO; coronavirus; global; macrophages; therapeutic; vaccine.

Publication types

Review