ABSTRACT

At a time when the world faces an emotional breakdown, crushing our dreams, if not, taking our lives, we realize that together we must fight the war against the COVID-19 outbreak even if almost the majority of the scientific community finds itself confined at home. Every day, we, scientists, listen to the latest news with its promises and announcements. Across the world, a surge of clinical trials trying to cure or slow down the coronavirus pandemic has been launched to bring hope instead of fear and despair. One first proposed clinical trial has drawn worldwide hype to the benefit of chloroquine (CQ), in the treatment of patients infected by the recently emerged deadly coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). We should consider this information in light of the long-standing anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties of CQ-related drugs. Yet, none of the articles promoting the use of CQ in the current pandemic evoked a possible molecular or cellular mechanism of action that could account for any efficacy. Here, given the interaction of viruses with macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy), a CQ-sensitive anti-viral safeguard pathway, we would like to discuss the pros, but also the cons concerning the current therapeutic options targeting this process.

摘要

在世界面临情绪崩溃、梦想破灭、甚至夺走我们的生命的时候，我们意识到，即使几乎大多数科学界发现自己被限制在家。每天，我们这些科学家都在聆听最新消息及其承诺和公告。在世界范围内，已经启动了大量旨在治愈或减缓冠状病毒大流行的临床试验，以带来希望而不是恐惧和绝望。一项首次提出的临床试验在全球范围内大肆宣传氯喹 (CQ) 在治疗最近出现的致命冠状病毒 (SARS-CoV-2) 感染的患者方面的益处。鉴于 CQ 相关药物的长期抗炎和抗病毒特性，我们应该考虑这些信息。然而，在当前大流行中宣传使用 CQ 的文章中，没有一篇文章引发了可能解释任何功效的分子或细胞作用机制。在这里，考虑到病毒与巨自噬（以下称为自噬）的相互作用，这是一种 CQ 敏感的抗病毒保护途径，我们想讨论关于当前针对该过程的治疗选择的优点和缺点。