Study by Kiesha Prem and colleagues (1) indicate the effects of extending or relaxing physical distancing control measures on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China. They use data on COVID-19 spread from Wuhan and empirical data from China on the number of contacts per day by age group at home, school, work, and other locations.
May 2020
Is a self-amplifying RNA SARS-CoV-2 lipid nanoparticle a good vaccine candidate?
This pre-peer reviewed article compares the humoral and cellular immune response of a self-amplifying (sa)RNA encoding a pre-fusion stabilised SARS-CoV-2 spike protein encapsulated in a lipid nanoparticle (LNP) in a preclinical murine model, with the immune profile of natural infection in recovered COVID-19 patients.
SARS-CoV-2 transmission exploits existing secretory pathways in the nasal cavity: a vaccine/drug target?
Investigators in a brief communication in Nature Medicine utilised the Covid19 cell atlas database to identify gene expression of the SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor ACE2 and other genes potentially associated with pathogenesis using known single-cell RNA sequencing datasets.
The role of complement in COVID-19 pathogenesis.
A recent commentary in Nature Reviews Immunology cites the role of complement in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and that possibly targeting the inhibition of the complement cascade may be an important treatment. Complement is part of the innate immune response and is involved with the initiation pro-inflammatory...