June 2020

Identification of immunogenic SARS-CoV-2 epitopes and peptides are critical to the design of new diagnostics and potential vaccines. Researchers from A*Star and other Singaporean research institutions aimed to identify potential B cell epitopes recognised by Abs from convalescent COVID-19 patients. Using neutralisation assays researchers identified two immunodominant epitopes S14P5 and S21P...

Developing neutralising antibodies that target the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, has been highlighted as a potential strategy for an effective COVID-19 vaccine. Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated the ability to induce high levels of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-specific neutralising Abs (nAbs) in animal models. However, adenovirus-based vaccines such as the ChAdOx1 and a human adenovirus 5...

Using multiple assays for detecting antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) glycoprotein, a recent pre-peer reviewed paper in bioRxiv shows “pre-existing immunity in uninfected and unexposed humans to the new coronavirus.” The authors were able to detect Spike-reactive IgG in SARS-CoV-2-uninfected individuals with recent other Coronavirus (HCoV) infections using a sensitive flow cytometry...

A recent report in The Lancet cites three case studies showing that cardiovascular complications, in addition to respiratory disease, may be emerging as a “key threat in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)”.  The authors present cases that demonstrate endothelial cell involvement across vascular beds of different organs in COVID-19. They show the “presence of viral elements within endothelial cells and an accumulation of inflammatory cells

A replication defective Ad5 vectored vaccine expressing the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 based on the full-length spike gene from the Wuhan-Hu-1 strain was given to three groups of volunteers at different doses (thirty six volunteers in each). The most common injection site adverse reaction was pain, reported in 58 (54%) vaccine recipients...

With an impending second wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections predicted, one important question is whether a person infected once can develop enough durable protective immunity to prevent re-infection when exposed again. In a recent edition of Science, a rhesus macaque model of SARS-CoV-2 infection was developed, where “high viral loads in the upper and lower respiratory tract, humoral and cellular immune responses...

A recent study in Cell focused on defining the host response to SARS-CoV-2 and other human respiratory viruses in cell lines, primary cell cultures, ferrets, and COVID-19 patients. The authors show a distinct transcriptional footprint exists with SARS-CoV-2 infection when compared with other coronaviruses and common respiratory viruses such as IAV, HPIV3, and RSV. The response to SARS-CoV-2 was defined...

IUIS webinar by Sharon Lewin and Katherine Kedzierska show how immunity to SARS-CoV2 has demonstrated the breadth of concomitant immune responses associated with recovery in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation. Their study indicates that robust multi-factorial immune responses can be elicited towards the newly-emerged SARS-CoV-2 and early adaptive immune responses...

Investigators in the Bergamo province of northern Italy found a 30-fold increased incidence of Kawasaki disease and they report in The Lancet that children diagnosed after the SARS-CoV-2 had a higher rate of cardiac involvement and features of Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS). They concluded that young children infected with SARS-CoV-2, rather than develop respiratory illness, progress to a severe form of Kawasaki-like disease...

A research letter published in JAMA network showed that BCG vaccination in childhood had no protective effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection in adulthood. The authors report on a cohort of Israeli adults aged 35 to 41 years who received BCG vaccination in childhood compared with no vaccination and then tested for SARS-CoV-2. There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of positive tests...