Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

Latest Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

High expression of ACE2 receptors in developing ovaries increases SARS-CoV-2 risk

A team of scientists from China collaborated to find if SARS-CoV-2 could also infect the ovary at different developmental stages.

25 Feb 2021

Is the CDC 10-day COVID-19 quarantine guideline enough?

Researchers at the University of Florida and the Florida Department of Health evaluated test positivity rates for SARS-CoV-2 infection among student contacts. The team found that nine days are not enough to ascertain that the student did not contract the virus.

24 Feb 2021

SARS-CoV-2 transmission bottleneck is of the order of one to three virions

Now, a new study, posted to the bioRxiv preprint server by the same researchers, focussing on the Austrian region, found that SARS-CoV-2 transmission bottlenecks to be much tighter than previously thought.

24 Feb 2021

Lab study of South African SARS-CoV-2 variant and Moderna vaccine: reduced neutralization, but still protective

Researchers from the US recently compared antibody binding and viral neutralization against 2 SARS-CoV-2 variants that emerged in different parts of the world. The researchers used sera from spike mRNA vaccinated and naturally infected individuals against a circulating B.1 variant and the emerging B.1.351 variant. The study is published on the preprint server bioRxiv.

24 Feb 2021

Full characterization of mammalian-produced SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domains

A research paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv by Dominguez-Vega et al. (23rd Feb, 2021) describes an in-depth structural analysis of the RBD of the spike protein expressed in mammalian Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells, providing a new understanding of protein structure and function.

24 Feb 2021

Mapping the dominance of the SARS-CoV-2 UK variant in Europe

A research paper recently uploaded to the preprint server medRxiv* by Vespignani et al. (February 22nd, 2021) uses mathematical models to map the spread of this lineage across Europe, establishing that a 50% increase to the transmissibility of the variant would allow it to become dominant in major metropolitan areas by the end of March 2021.

24 Feb 2021

Complement system appears to be specifically implicated in severe COVID-19

Researchers in the United States have conducted a study showing that activation of the complement system is specifically implicated in the pathogenesis of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), rather than being a broader indicator of critical illness.

24 Feb 2021

Study shows antibody responses persisting 10 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Researchers in Italy have conducted a study showing that patients who had tested positive for infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) still had neutralizing antibodies against the virus 10 months later.

24 Feb 2021

Household odorant smell tests could help detect COVID-19, say study

Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and other institutions developed a new tool to help detect COVID-19 infection. The team developed and tested a real-time tool to measure olfactory perception impairment by asking the participants to smell household odorants.

24 Feb 2021

COVID-19 hospitalizations still high in England despite recent decline in cases, says study

Results from the latest round of the real-time assessment of community transmission study (REACT-1) study in England indicate that although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases have decreased, the number of hospitalizations remains high.

24 Feb 2021

Basigin does not facilitate SARS-CoV-2 entry, say researchers

Researchers investigated the significance of a transmembrane glycoprotein basigin, or CD147, as a host cell co-receptor required for the entry of SARS-CoV-2. The findings reveal that recombinant human basigin does not interact with full-length spike protein or spike RBD of SARS-CoV-2.

24 Feb 2021

UK and South African SARS-CoV-2 variants show higher binding affinity to host cell receptor

New research by a team of scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine in the U.S. found that both the UK and South African SARS-CoV-2 variants display tighter binding to the ACE2 receptor.

24 Feb 2021

Researchers explore how N501Y mutation in SARS-CoV-2 increases viral transmissibility

Researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center in The Netherlands have explored how and why new variants of SARS-CoV-2 have exhibited heightened infectivity.

24 Feb 2021

Corticosteroid receptor inhibitor shows anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity in vivo

A team of researchers examined PT150, which is an allosteric modulator of androgen and glucocorticoid receptors, to assess whether it had any antiviral activity or immunomodulatory activity to decrease the hyperinflammatory response of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

24 Feb 2021

COVID-19 may alter host proteins to cause autoimmunity

To better understand the transient and chronic autoimmune symptoms caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Guizhou Medical University, and biotech company Curandis embarked on an endeavor to establish a comprehensive autoantigenome for COVID19.

23 Feb 2021

SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge during humoral immunity phase of acute COVID-19

A new preprint research paper posted to the bioRxiv server reports the rapid emergence of variants within an infected individual. The evolution of the virus within an infected host is not excluded by the close similarity between the consensus sequences of single-person SARS-CoV-2, since the number of viral copies is at its peak soon after infection occurs and before the host develops adaptive immunity.

23 Feb 2021

Two potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies effective against B.1.351 and B.1.1.7 variants

By analyzing the cryoEM structures of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers report that the neutralizing capabilities of two antibodies are not affected by new strains as these antibodies target regions of the virus away from the ACE2 binding regions.

23 Feb 2021

Key mutation sites in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein modulate antibody and ACE2 affinity

A paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv by researchers at Chapman University in California (Feb 22nd, 2021) utilized computational methods to screen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mutants for affinity with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and monoclonal antibodies REG10987 and REG10933.

23 Feb 2021

SARS-CoV-2 mutations allow escape from clinical monoclonal antibodies

A new research paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv by Jesse D. Bloom et al. (22nd Feb 2021) aims to map all of the currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineages with resistance towards LY-CoV555 and LY-CoV016, and document the specific mutations that confer resistance, ultimately suggesting that future monoclonal antibody cocktails should target a more diverse range of epitopes.

23 Feb 2021

GSK-3 inhibitors show promise in treating coronavirus infections

Researchers in the United States have suggested a new approach to treating infection with coronaviruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

23 Feb 2021