COVID-19

[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] To understand the pathophysiology of COVID-19 infection, it is necessary to understand cell function during hypoxia. Researchers investigated aspects of human monocyte activation under hypoxic conditions.

[Science Translational Medicine] To examine the ontogeny and function of MS1 cells, scientists developed a cellular model for inducing CD14+ MS1 monocytes by treating human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from healthy bone marrow donors in culture with plasma from patients with severe bacterial infection or SARS-CoV-2 infection.

[Bone Marrow Transplantation] Investigators compared 32 patients who underwent unrelated donor (UD) hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) using cryopreserved peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) during the COVID-19 pandemic with 32 patients who underwent UD HSCT using fresh PBSC in the previous period.

[Global Blood Therapeutic, Inc.] Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. has awarded approximately $450,000 to US community-based organizations and institutions as part of the company’s 2021 Access to Excellent Care for Sickle Cell Patients (ACCEL) Grant Program. The program provides support to accelerate the development of sustainable access-to-care programs for people living with sickle cell disease.

[Science Immunology] Researchers showed that the SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein alone is able to cause acute respiratory distress syndrome-like damages in vitro and in vivo.

[Scientific Reports] Scientists report that antibodies that displayed high levels of cross-reactivity with the SARS-CoV-2 spike, were incapable of neutralizing pseudoviruses expressing SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins and were unlikely to mediate ADE via FcγRII receptor engagement.