One of the most effective tools for the disinfection of environments from harmful germs is the use of ultraviolet radiation in the C band. This technique is widely used to sanitize environments or instrumentation from viruses and bacteria and, during the pandemic induced by the SARS-CoV virus- 2, has been an important resource for hospitals and intensive care rooms.
Its antiseptic action of UV-C radiation is produced by its interaction with macromolecules (such as nucleid acids) where it causes the breakdown of chemical bonds. However, this can happen both with viral RNA and with DNA and RNA of healthy cells: this is why this radiation is useful for the elimination of viruses and bacteria but harmful to humans, where it can cause inflammatory realizations or even genetic modifications and oncological pathologies. However, recently the journal Nature Communications has published some papers in which and at controlled doses, UV radiation has been applied for the sanitation of explant organs from patients with hepatitis.
This project aims to study an innovative procedure to apply UV-C radiation safely also on humans (both as sanitization and as a cure) for the elimination of viruses of the coronavirus family. This is made possible by a careful calibration of the radiation with the optical and acoustic characteristics of the viral capsid, which is made to act as both optical and acoustic resonator: in this way, with a process similar to heating the water molecules with microwave radiation, the The project aims to transfer both light intensity and thermal power exclusively to the viral nanovesicles in order to induce their destruction in a selective way, that is, without touching the surrounding healthy tissue.
The proposed technique could be specialized and applied to any type of micro-organism of nanometric size.
The project is absolutely innovative: the application of UV radiation for sanitizing the environment has been known since the `800s, and is still widely used today. Just enter the keywords UV and coronavirus in any search engine to find infinite Italian and foreign pages both on the germicidal action of UV radiation and on the harmfulness of such radiation for humans.
This is because UV radiation, especially that of the C band, interacts with the chemical bonds of biological macromolecules, such as with the bonds of the nucleic acid bases, breaking them. As a result, it can "destroy" bacteria and viruses, which contain RNA chains, but also healthy human cells through the breakdown of DNA and RNA. For these reasons, the use of UV radiation for the sanitization of environments must take place in a protected manner and always in the absence of people.
Therefore, UV radiation is an effective technique but must be used with many precautions and following specific safety and control protocols.
As described in the paragraph "Description and objectives of the project, knowledge of the state of the art in the specific theme and methodological system", last year 2019 a work published by the journal Nature Communications has put forward the application of UV radiation to sanitize lungs explants from subjects with hepatitis, in order to be able to use them in organ transplants without danger for recipients. This is an innovative application of the traditional technique: having the need to perform a transplant and in the absence of healthy donors, the organ is sterilized with the possible techniques, trying to limit the damage by using sterile perfusions.
The research proposed in this project represents a great novelty compared to the traditional one: thanks to current knowledge on the optical and mechanical response of nanostructures, it is possible to create an intelligent UV light, capable of recognizing and acting selectively only on specific nanovesicles at levels of intensity lower than the characteristic doses of the sanitization. This nanotechnological innovation will allow to advance the current knowledge on the use of UV radiation, opening the way for use even in the presence of people without producing harmful effects for the skin and healthy cells. A separate discussion must instead be made on eye safety: the eyes are extremely delicate organs and the use of the proposed radiation must always and in any case be carried out in full safety for the eyes. Therefore, protective glasses of specific grade according to the hazard classes according to the Italian / European / international legislation on eye protection devices must be duly used.¿