Developing drugs against essential proteins of SARS-CoV-2 for the treatment of COVID-19

Infections caused by SARS-CoV-2 are causing catastrophic levels of morbidity in the world and new treatments are greatly needed. Essential proteins involved in the replication and infection of SARS-CoV-2 could be targeted to develop anti-viral drugs for the treatment of COVID-19. Two proteins, Papain-like protease (PLpro) and Non-structural protein 15 (Nsp15) from SARS-CoV-2, are essential for viral replication and evading the host immune response, respectively. PLpro is a crucial protease with deubiquitinating and deISGylating activity while Nsp15 is an uridylate-specific endonuclease which blocks the innate immune response pathways.