Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Science and Tech

Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die – The Atlantic

here’s a joke about immunology, which Jessica Metcalf of Princeton recently told me. An immunologist and a cardiologist are kidnapped. The kidnappers threaten to shoot one of them, but promise to spare whoever has made the greater contribution to humanity. The cardiologist says, “Well, I’ve identified drugs that have saved the lives of millions of people.” Impressed, the kidnappers turn to the immunologist. “What have you done?” they ask. The immunologist says, “The thing is, the immune system is very complicated …” And the cardiologist says, “Just shoot me now.”

Fighting COVID-19 by luring the virus away from human cells with a decoy target – Fierce Biotech

Sars-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, infects a person by first binding its spike protein to the ACE2 receptor on the surface of human cells. Blocking this process could theoretically inhibit infections when tissues are exposed to the virus. A research team led by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, suggests that a variant of the receptor—one with an even stronger ability to bind to the coronavirus—might work as a therapeutic candidate against COVID-19 by acting as a decoy to lure the virus away.

Therapeutics

Nucleotide Analogues as Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase, a Key Drug Target for COVID-19 – ACSPub

SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic. On the basis of our analysis of hepatitis C virus and coronavirus replication, and the molecular structures and activities of viral inhibitors, we previously demonstrated that three nucleotide analogues (the triphosphates of Sofosbuvir, Alovudine, and AZT) inhibit the SARS-CoV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). We also demonstrated that a library of additional nucleotide analogues terminate RNA synthesis catalyzed by the SARS-CoV-2 RdRp, a well-established drug target for COVID-19. Here, we used polymerase extension experiments to demonstrate that the active triphosphate form of Sofosbuvir (an FDA-approved hepatitis C drug) is incorporated by SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and blocks further incorporation. Using the molecular insight gained from the previous studies, we selected the active triphosphate forms of six other antiviral agents, Alovudine, Tenofovir alafenamide, AZT, Abacavir, Lamivudine, and Emtricitabine, for evaluation as inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and demonstrated the ability of these viral polymerase inhibitors to be incorporated by SARS-CoV-2 RdRp, where they terminate further polymerase extension with varying efficiency. These results provide a molecular basis for inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 RdRp by these nucleotide analogues. If sufficient efficacy of some of these FDA-approved drugs in inhibiting viral replication in cell culture is established, they may be explored as potential COVID-19 therapeutics.

Lung Link – Clinical trial to test cystic fibrosis drug for severe COVID-19 pneumonia – Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital will soon begin testing an existing drug, dornase alfa, in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and respiratory failure. The randomized, controlled clinical trial aims to enroll 60 adults and children over age 3 who require mechanical ventilation.

Vaccine

Covid-19 Vaccine Trials Have a Problem: Minority Groups Don’t Trust Them – Wall Street Journal

Researchers and companies developing Covid-19 vaccines are taking new steps to tackle a longtime challenge: People who need the vaccines most urgently, including Blacks and Latinos, are least likely to participate in clinical trials to determine whether they work safely. Racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to be hospitalized and die from the new coronavirus, partly due to socioeconomic factors and underlying health conditions, data show.

NIH-Moderna investigational COVID-19 vaccine shows promise in mouse studies – NIH

The investigational vaccine known as mRNA-1273 protected mice from infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to research published today in Nature. Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the biotechnology company Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, along with collaborators from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, and the University of Texas at Austin conducted the preclinical research. NIAID Vaccine Research Center (VRC) scientists worked with investigators from the University of Texas at Austin to identify the atomic structure of the spike protein on the surface of the novel coronavirus. This structure was used by VRC and Moderna in the development of the vaccine candidate.

Scientists Are Optimistic About New Vaccine Studies From Novavax – New York Times

The company has received a $1.6 billion grant from the government’s Operation Warp Speed to have 100 million doses ready by early 2021.

Diagnostics