Munster, et al. showed that SARS-CoV-2 causes respiratory disease in infected rhesus macaques, with disease lasting 8-16 days. Pulmonary infiltrates, a hallmark of human disease, were visible in lung radiographs of all animals. The shedding pattern observed in rhesus macaques was strikingly similar to that observed in humans.
May 2020
IUIS Webinar: What cancer immunologists are doing about COVID-19 ?
Did you watch the IUIS Webinar : "What cancer immunologists are doing about COVID-19?" by Rachel Humphrey, a medical oncologist, who is currently serving as Head of Research and Development for TIO Bioventures. Highlights from her talk include: Intersection in advances in cancer and infectious diseases immunology...
BCG induced trained immunity & COVID-19
Recent commentary by Luke O’Neill and Mihai Netea discusses “the non-specific beneficial effects of BCG vaccination against viral infections and whether this vaccine may afford protection to COVID-19”. In their commentary, they highlight numerous epidemiological studies that have reported non-specific beneficial effects of BCG against non-related pathogens, including respiratory viruses.
Is there a SARS-CoV-2 receptor (ACE2) expression difference between males and females?
In a recent article by Song et al., titled “Expression of ACE2, the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, and TMPRSS2 in prostate epithelial cells” analysed publicly available single-cell RNA sequencing dataset and identified higher ACE2 expression on epithelial cells from normal human prostate and the lung.
Roles of different anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in COVID-19 disease and protection
Which proteins do IgM and IgG Abs recognise on the SARS-CoV-2 virus? Can these Abs provide protection or facilitate inflammation and disease progression? The simple answer is that we don’t yet know, but a commentary in Nature Reviews Immunology asked about the “potential danger of suboptimal antibody responses in COVID-19”.
Exaggerated immune response to Covid-19
Effective host immune responses are required for optimum viral control. Immune reactions to a viral threat, on the contrary, could also be harmful to the host if the response is excessive. Huang et al. noted that upon infection with Covid-19, the initial levels of inflammatory cytokines e.g. IL1β were higher...
Can neonates born to mothers with COVID-19 acquire maternal infection ?
Zeng et al., investigated neonates born to mothers with COVID19 recruited from Wuhan Children's Hospital (Wuhan, China) (1). Consistent with previous studies, clinical symptoms from these neonates with or at risk of COVID-19 were mild with favourable outcomes. Of the 3 out of 33 neonates that had early-onset SARS-CoV-2 ...
Mutation in the Spike protein may explain higher infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 and accelerated disease.
In a recent pre-peer reviewed bioRxiv manuscript, Bette Korber and colleagues have used a newly developed analysis pipeline to track mutations in the Spike protein; being the target of drug and vaccine development. They identified 14 accumulating mutations, revealing an early warning..
IUIS Webinar: Global outbreaks – Interferons as 1st responders
IUIS Webinar on Interferons as 1st responders by Professor Eleanor Fish (University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)."Can antivirals that target the host and not the virus improve outcomes for COVID-19 patients?"Highlights from her talk include: Interferons are the first line of defence against all viral infections. Viruses are detected by different...
An inventory of the vaccine candidates to SARS-CoV-2
Over 90 vaccine candidates are being developed as part of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A snapshot of the eight different ways to elicit host immunity with vaccines under development is given in a guide by Ewen Callaway in a recent Nature article. Candidates can take the form of inactivated virus, viral vectors, nucleic acid...