| Vol. 8.35 – 16 September, 2020 |
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| Scientists report the molecular assembly of the authentic SARS-CoV-2 virus using cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging. [Cell] |
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| PUBLICATIONSRanked by the impact factor of the journal |
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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 ACE2 engagement. [Nature Communications] |
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| Using SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain as a bait, researchers generated a panel of humanized single domain antibodies from a synthetic library. [Nature Communications] |
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| Scientists report the presence of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in the lungs of each COVID-19 patient. NETs were found in the airway compartment and neutrophil-rich inflammatory areas of the interstitium, while NET-prone primed neutrophils were present in arteriolar microthrombi. [Journal of Experimental Medicine] |
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| Investigators found that viable SARS-CoV-2 could directly induce the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) by healthy neutrophils. Mechanistically, NETs triggered by SARS-CoV-2 depended on angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, serine protease, virus replication, and PAD-4. [Journal of Experimental Medicine] |
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| SARS-CoV-2−specific CD8+ T cells recovered from convalescent COVID-19 patients had an atypically high prevalence of stem cell memory, central memory, and naïve phenotypes. [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] |
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| Investigators examined host response gene expression across infection status, viral load, age, and sex among shotgun RNA sequencing profiles of nasopharyngeal swabs from 430 individuals with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 and 54 negative controls. [PLoS Biology] |
| MORE IMMUNOLOGY OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE |
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| Researchers demonstrated that sphingosine kinase 2 functioned during lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus Cl 13 infection to limit T cell immune pathology, which subsequently aided in the establishment of virus-induced immunosuppression and the resultant viral persistence. [Journal of Clinical Investigation] |
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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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| To understand human norovirus biology and the epithelial response to infection, the authors performed transcriptomic analyses, RT-qPCR, CRISPR-Cas9 modification of human intestinal enteroid cultures, and functional studies with two virus strains. [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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| Researchers identified phosphatidylethanolamine‐binding protein 1 (PEBP1), also known as Raf kinase inhibitor protein, as a novel gene inducing HIV latency. Depletion of PEBP1 led to the reactivation of HIV‐1 in multiple models of latency. [EMBO Reports] |
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| The authors showed that Raf kinase inhibitor protein negatively regulated the activation of the NLRP1, NLRP3, and NLRC4 inflammasomes. [Cellular & Molecular Immunology] |
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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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| 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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| The author considers the challenges inherent to the prevention of bacterial diseases, particularly mucosal infections caused by major priority bacterial pathogens against which current vaccines are sub-optimal. [NPJ Vaccines] |
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| UK trials of the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine have resumed after a brief pause, yet key details of the events involved have not been released. [Nature News] |
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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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| Valneva SE announced a vaccine partnership with the UK government for its inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001. [Valneva SE] |
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| Vaxart, Inc. announced that the FDA has completed its review of the Company’s Investigational New Drug application for its Phase I clinical trial evaluating its oral COVID-19 vaccine candidate. [Vaxart, Inc.] |
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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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| STEMCELL Technologies – Flexible |
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| The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital – Columbus, Ohio, United States |
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| Texas Biomedical Research Institute – San Antonio, Texas, United States |
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| Institute for Virology, University Hospital Cologne – Cologne, Germany |
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| Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason – Seattle, Washington, United States |
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