Lessons from COVID-19: Aspects of prevention, therapeutics, and diagnostics against SARS-CoV-2 with special focus on JN.1 and XBB sublineages

Abstract

The end of second decade in the 21st century witnessed a prominent disease outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (including most diverse omicron subvariants), where the death toll crossed the boundary of 6.9 million across the globe by December 19, 2023. All spheres of central dogma of molecular biology and host‒pathogen interaction was explored to find ways in diagnostics, isolation, curtailment, and therapy. Above all, diagnostics and therapeutics against COVID-19 took an enormous jump, which needs to be evaluated for accuracy and feasibility and requires serious compilation for current and future generations. With the same objective, this review encompasses the diverse ways including prevention practiced and proposed during the handling of this pandemic across the globe. It involves the role of mutations in viruses and subsequent epitope mapping with potential immune escape mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 variants including the conservancy of T-cell epitopes has also been highlighted. The efficacy in antigen/antibody-based diagnostics, RT‒PCR- and NGS-based confirmation of pathogen presence, and imaging (X-ray/CT-scan) for symptoms and damage assessment has been thoroughly filtered. The possibility of errors in diagnostics and their cause and consequences have also been presented for the ease of readers and further improvisers.