 | | Vol. 8.31 – 19 August, 2020 |
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| Spike protein exhibited extensive conformational flexibility: it modulated exposure of its receptor binding site and later underwent complete structural rearrangement to drive fusion of viral and cellular membranes.
[Nature] |
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| PUBLICATIONSRanked by the impact factor of the journal |
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| Scientists generated a rhesus macaque model of SARS-CoV-2 infection that was characterized by interstitial pneumonia and systemic viral dissemination mainly in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.
[Science] |
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| Investigators identified a core peripheral blood immune signature across 63 hospital-treated patients with COVID-19 who were otherwise highly heterogeneous.
[Nature Medicine] |
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| Acute phase SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells displayed a highly activated cytotoxic phenotype that correlated with various clinical markers of disease severity, whereas convalescent phase SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells were polyfunctional and displayed a stem-like memory phenotype.
[Cell] |
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| Researchers studied the frequencies and activation profiles of dendritic cells and monocytes present in the blood and lungs of COVID-19 patients with different clinical severity in comparison with healthy individuals.
[Journal of Clinical Investigation] |
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| The authors found that a single vaccination with a replication-defective human type 5 adenovirus encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein protected mice completely against mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 infection in the upper and lower respiratory tracts.
[Nature Communications] |
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| Investigators retrospectively compared 22 patients from three different centers in France with stages 2b and 3 COVID-19−associated pneumonia presenting with acute severe respiratory failure and systemic inflammation who received either standard-of-care treatment alone or combined with intravenous anakinra.
[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] |
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| The authors leveraged bioinformatics binding prediction tools for human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-I and HLA-II alleles that were developed using mass spectrometry-based profiling of individual HLA-I and HLA-II alleles to predict peptide binding to diverse allele sets.
[Genome Medicine] |
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| Researchers profiled adaptive immune cells of PBMCs from recovered COVID-19 patients with varying disease severity using single-cell RNA and TCR/BCR V(D)J sequencing. The sequencing data revealed SARS-CoV-2-specific shuffling of adaptive immune repertories and COVID-19-induced remodeling of peripheral lymphocytes.
[Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy] |
| | MORE IMMUNOLOGY OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE |
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| Scientists showed an approach to eradicate HIV infections by selective elimination of host cells harboring replication-competent HIV, which included viral reactivation, induction of cell death, inhibition of autophagy and the blocking of new infections.
[Nature Communications] |
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| Overexpression of KAT5 potentiated viral-DNA–triggered transcription of downstream antiviral genes, whereas a KAT5 deficiency had the opposite effects.
[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] |
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| Scientists demonstrated that ubiquitination of STAT1 mediated by the E3 ligase RNF220 contributed significantly to STAT1 activation and innate immune responses.
[Cell Death & Differentiation] |
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| The authors found that following Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells mounted minimal responses, and MAIT cell-deficient MR1−/− mice displayed normal survival.
[Mucosal Immunology] |
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| Researchers used a mouse model that applied an improved genetic definition of innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) via IL-7r–conditional Rora gene targeting and took advantage of a distinct progression from acute illness to chronic disease, based on a persistent type 2 immune response to respiratory infection with a natural pathogen.
[Journal of Immunology] |
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| Investigators showed that in vivo treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected C57BL/6 mice with doramapimod, a p38 MAP-kinase inhibitor, resulted in reduced inflammation, granuloma formation and lung pathology.
[Scientific Reports] |
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| Two T-cell specific promoters were assessed: the distal Lck—and the CD3δ-promoter. Transduced hematopoietic stem cells were FACS sorted by mCherry expression and transferred into sublethally irradiated C57/BL6 mice.
[Scientific Reports] |
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| Investigators highlight the general mechanisms by which nanomaterials can be used to target bacterial infections associated with acquired antibiotic resistance and biofilms.
[Nature Reviews Microbiology] |
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| Emerging knowledge on the basic biological pathways that underlie differences in immune responses between women and men needs to be incorporated into research efforts on SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and pathology to identify targets for therapeutic interventions aimed at enhancing antiviral immune function and lung airway resilience while reducing pathogenic inflammation in COVID-19.
[Immunity] |
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| Revive Therapeutics Ltd. announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Attwill Medical Solutions Sterilflow (AMS), LP to establish AMS as a resource for clinical packaging and distribution for the company’s Phase III clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Bucillamine in patients with mild-moderate COVID-19.
[Revive Therapeutics Ltd.] |
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| Roche and Regeneron announced that they are joining forces in the fight against COVID-19 to develop, manufacture and distribute REGN-COV2, Regeneron’s investigational antiviral antibody combination, to people around the globe. REGN-COV2 could provide a much-needed treatment option for people already experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, and also has the potential to prevent infection in people exposed to the virus, thus slowing the spread of the global pandemic.
[F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.] |
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| Borrowing from decades of experience in producing snake antivenoms, scientists, veterinarians and technicians at a scientific and technical institute in Costa Rica have labored nonstop in recent months to produce a therapeutic formulation of equine antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
[Scientific American] |
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| All but one study subject had been infected with a particular coronavirus multiple times over the period of the study, and in some cases the time between infections with the same virus was as little as six months to a year, indicating an “alarmingly short duration of protective immunity,” the authors write in their paper.
[The Scientist] |
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| Dec 9 – 11, 2020
Paris, France |
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| | STEMCELL Technologies – Flexible |
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| | Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey, United States |
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| | Rush University Medical Center – Chicago, Illinois, United States |
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| | University of Dundee – Dundee, United Kingdom |
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| | Ohio State University – Columbus, Ohio, United States |
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