Daily curated COVID-19 literature
WP11 - The objective of this work package is to respond to requests concerning the current scientific knowledge on SARS-CoV-2. Based on the latest scientific literature the team will compile findings and give advice when needed
10 publications
Journal
2020-05-22
SARS-CoV-2 infection protects against rechallenge in rhesus macaques
Expert Summary: The understanding of immune response against SARS-COV2 is essential for the development of vaccines. However, the degree of immunological memory development in SARS-COV2 infection remains to be examined. This study found that, using rhesus macaque models, that SARS-COV2 successfully infects respiratory organs of rhesus macaques. Re-challenging the animals that have been previously infected with SARS-COV2 developed protective immunity resulting in 5 log10 medial viral load reduction.
DNA vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques
Expert Summary: In this study, the authors developed a series of DNA vaccine candidates expressing different forms of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein and evaluated them in 35 rhesus macaques. Vaccinated animals developed humoral and cellular immune responses, including neutralizing antibody titers comparable to those found in convalescent humans and macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2. They the vaccine encoding the full-length S protein led to >3.1 and >3.7 log10 reductions in median viral loads in bronchoalveolar lavage and nasal mucosa, respectively, as compared with sham controls. This study reports the ...
2020-05-19
Susceptible supply limits the role of climate in the early SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
Expert Summary: This study used a climate-dependent epidemic model to simulate the SARS-COV2 pandemic probing different scenarios based on current knowledge of coronavirus biology. The authors found that variations in weather may be important for endemic infections but only modestly impact pandemic size during the pandemic stage.
2020-05-18
Inferring change points in the spread of COVID-19 reveals the effectiveness of interventions
Expert Summary: By combining an established epidemiological model with Bayesian inference, the authors focus the analysis on COVID-19 spread in Germany. The model detects change points in the effective growth rate that correlate well with the times of publicly announced interventions. Thereby, they are able to quantify the effect of interventions, and incorporate the corresponding change points into forecasts of future scenarios and case numbers.
2020-05-15
A noncompeting pair of human neutralizing antibodies block COVID-19 virus binding to its receptor ACE2
Expert Summary: Report on isolation of four human-origin monoclonal antibodies from a convalescent patient, all of which display neutralization abilities. B38 and H4 block the binding between virus S-protein RBD and cellular receptor ACE2. A therapeutic study in a mouse model validated that these antibodies can reduce virus titers in infected lungs.
2020-05-12
Ethics and governance for digital disease surveillance
Expert Summary: Focusing on core public health functions of case detection, contact tracing, and isolation and quarantine, the authors explore ethical concerns raised by digital technologies and new data sources in public health surveillance during epidemics
2020-04-24
COVID-19 vaccine protects monkeys from new coronavirus, Chinese biotech reports
Expert Summary: Researchers from Sinovac Biotech, a privately held Beijing-based company, tested a COVID-19 vaccine on monkeys, in which the formulation consisted of a chemically inactivated version of the virus. There were no obvious side effects in the monkeys and the higher dose protected them from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Human trials began on 16 April to test safety.
Structure-based design of antiviral drug candidates targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease
Expert Summary: The authors designed and synthesized two lead compounds (11a and 11b) targeting Mpro, the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. Both exhibited excellent inhibitory activity and potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 infection activity. The compounds exhibited good PK properties in vivo and low toxicity, suggesting that they can be promising drug candidates.
