| Vol. 8.34 – 9 September, 2020 |
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| Investigators studied T cell memory in 42 patients following recovery from COVID-19 and 16 unexposed donors, using interferon-γ-based assays with peptides spanning SARS-CoV-2 except ORF1. [Nature Immunology] |
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PUBLICATIONSRanked by the impact factor of the journal |
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| Researchers used two ELISA assays that recognized the full-length nucleoprotein or trimeric spike protein ectodomain of SARS-CoV-2. [Science Translational Medicine] |
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| Scientists demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, but not N protein, directly activated the alternative pathway of complement. [Blood] |
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| Investigators report the isolation and characterization of an alpaca-derived single domain antibody fragment, Ty1, that specifically targeted the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike, directly preventing angiotensin converting enzyme 2 engagement. [Nature Communications] |
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| Researchers report the first observation of sterol regulatory element binding protein-2 (SREBP-2) C-terminal fragment in COVID-19 patients’ blood and proposed SREBP-2 C-terminal fragment as an indicator for determining severity. [Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy] |
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| Research indicated that SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV utilized unique strategies to achieve stable binding to ACE2. Several differences were observed between the residues of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV that consistently interacted with angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). [Scientific Reports] |
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| Scientists identified 28 B-cell epitopes in the Spike structure and grouped them as non-affected by the glycan cloud versus those which were strongly masked by the glycan cloud, resulting in a list of favourable epitopes as targets for vaccine development, antibody-based therapy and diagnostics. [NPJ Vaccines] |
| MORE IMMUNOLOGY OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE |
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| Macrophages sensed, chemotaxed, and, with high efficiency, phagocytosed inhaled bacterial pathogens such as P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, cloaking the bacteria from neutrophils. [Cell] |
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| The authors characterize the in vivo T cell receptor (TCR) signaling of virus-specific exhausted CD8+ T cells in a mouse model, leveraging TCR signaling reporter mice in combination with transcriptomics. [Nature Communications] |
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| Scientists discovered that the plecomacrolide family of natural products restored major histocompatibility class I to the surface of Nef-expressing primary cells with variable potency. [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] |
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| Investigators demonstrated that CD8+ tissue-resident memory cell expressing the α1 chain (CD49a) was expressed early following T cell activation in vivo, and TGF-β and IL-12 induced CD49a expression by CD8+ T cells in vitro. [Cell Reports] |
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| By infecting transgenic lox-stop-lox reporter mice with a Cre-recombinase-expressing influenza B virus, researchers identified olfactory sensory neurons as a major viral cell target in the upper respiratory tract. [Cell Reports] |
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| The authors explored the effects of free and complement-opsonized HIV on colorectal tissue. Initially, there was higher antiviral responses in the free HIV compared to complement-opsonized virus. [eLife] |
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| Investigators report that the deubiquitinase OTUD5 interacted with STING, cleaved its K48-linked polyubiquitin chains, and promoted its stability. [Cellular & Molecular Immunology] |
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| Researchers showed that Raf kinase inhibitor (RKIP) protein negatively regulated the activation of the NLRP1, NLRP3, and NLRC4 inflammasomes. [Cellular & Molecular Immunology] |
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| The authors discuss the immunological principles that need to be taken into consideration in the development of COVID-19 vaccine strategies. [Nature Reviews Immunology] |
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| Investigators provide an overview of the challenges of the therapeutic use of phages and how these could be addressed for future use of phages as specific modulators of the human microbiome in a variety of infectious and noncommunicable human diseases. [Cellular & Molecular Immunology] |
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| A large, Phase II study testing a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford at dozens of sites across the US has been put on hold due to a suspected serious adverse reaction in a participant in the UK. [STAT News] |
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| Amid growing concerns that the Trump administration may try to rush a vaccine against the virus that causes COVID-19 to market prematurely, nine biotech and pharmaceutical CEOs have signed a pledge designed to assure the public that they will stick to scientific and ethical principles. [Breaking Media, Inc.] |
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| INmune Bio, Inc. announced that the FDA has accepted the company’s Investigational New Drug application to initiate a Phase II clinical trial evaluating Quellor™, a selective soluble tumor necrosis factor inhibitor, for the treatment of immune mediated complications in COVID-19 patients. [INmune Bio, Inc. (BusinessWire, Inc.)] |
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| Savara, Inc. announced the decision to discontinue ENCORE, a 48-week, open-label, non-controlled Phase IIa exploratory clinical study of Molgradex for the treatment of nontuberculous mycobacterial lung infection in people living with CF. [Savara, Inc.] |
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| Compared with HIV, SARS-CoV-2 is changing much more slowly as it spreads. But one mutation stood out. It was in the gene encoding the spike protein, which helps virus particles to penetrate cells. [Nature] |
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| Institute for Virology, University Hospital Cologne – Cologne, Germany |
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| Texas Biomedical Research Institute – San Antonio, Texas, United States |
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| STEMCELL Technologies – Flexible |
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| Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason – Seattle, Washington, United States |
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| The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital – Columbus, Ohio, United States |
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