Synthesis and ecotoxicological evaluation of urinary peptides identified in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

• Grant number: 23/13989-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Ricardo da Silva Sanches
• Grantee: Eduardo Pinto André
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCFAR). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), an emerging beta coronavirus that continues to pose a threat to human health, has led to a dramatic global crisis and presents unprecedented challenges in the daily lives of everyone, social aspects, political matters, and health measures. The most common modes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission include direct contact with an infected person, inhalation of respiratory droplets containing the virus, or exposure to a contaminated environment where suspended particles are present at distances and times longer than droplet transmission. However, when reviewing the environmental threats posed by the virus, it is concluded that the virus can survive on inanimate surfaces such as metal, glass, or plastic for up to 9 days if effective disinfection procedures are not carried out within that timeframe.While direct contact is significant, an environmental transmission source now recognized is indirect contact through the feces and urine of infected individuals. Unconventional studies support this idea by reporting positive viral titers of SARS-CoV-2 in domestic sewage. SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been detected in wastewater from various regions in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. From a more convincing perspective, solid evidence suggests that monitoring settled solids primarily in wastewater through RT-qPCR is a robust strategy to track the spread of COVID-19 transmission before clinical cases occur in a specific location. The increase in the generation of domestic and hospital effluents, especially during pandemic peaks, constitutes some of the environmental grounds where there is still no information about the ecotoxicological effects of the structural protein or genetic components of SARS-CoV-2, as well as endogenous peptides from the host in response to the virus infection, in freshwater vertebrates.Therefore, this lack of knowledge requires urgent attention through the development of studies to assess how COVID-19 affects aquatic populations near anthropogenic activities. Such studies can focus on supporting actions or strategies for remediation or, at the very least, mitigating the impacts in favor of the conservation of non-target species in the face of any variant of SARS-CoV-2 and new disease outbreaks. In this project, we will synthesize and evaluate the ecotoxicological effects, in tadpoles and fish, of peptides identified in the urine of patients who were hospitalized due to SARS-CoV-2 infection, originating from the host's immune response to the infection.