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
150 publications
2020-04-15
COVID-19: a new virus, but an old cytokine release syndrome
Expert Summary: Hirano T and Murakami M discusses and provides insightful hypothesis that potential contributions of increased angiotensin II and activation of AT1R leading to IL-6/gp130 signaling, resulting in cytokine release syndrome observed in Covid19 acute respiratory distress syndromes.
Molecular Investigation of SARS–CoV-2 Proteins and Their Interactions with Antiviral Drugs
Expert Summary: The authors analyze the affinity between different viral proteins of the novel SARS-Cov-2 virus and several inhibitors by exploiting the molecular docking approach. They observe a relevant binding for some inhibitors that were originally developed to fight other viral infections.
2020-04-14
Compassionate Use of Remdesivir for Patients with Severe Covid-19
Expert Summary: Remdesivir is an antiviral drug that inhibits viral RNA polymerases. It was used in a compassionate-basis in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Clinical improvement was observed in 36 of 53 patients (68%). Statements about efficacy will require ongoing randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Note: trial funded by Gilead Sciences, the biopharmaceutical producing the prodrug.
COVID-19 Research in Brief: 4 April to 10 April, 2020
Expert Summary: Summary of the most important publications about COVID-19 on the week of 4th-10th April: plasma therapy trial at Johns Hopkins Univerty, anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody (tocilizumab), low levels of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 of patients recovered from the infection, recombinant ACE2 enzyme in clinical trials, reports on co-morbodities associated with higher fatality in ICU.
Risk factors for severity and mortality in adult COVID-19 inpatients in Wuhan
Expert Summary: The severity of admission, complications, treatment, and outcomes of 548 Covid-19 patients Tongji hospital in China were evaluated. Severe cases accounted for 49.1% (269/548), and were significantly associated with elder age, underlying hypertension, high cytokine levels (IL-2R, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-a), and high LDH level. The estimated mortality was 32.5% in severe cases during a month follow-up period. Death in severe COVID-19 cases were associated with male, elder age, leukocytosis, high LDH level, cardiac injury, hyperglycemia, and high-dose corticosteroid use. Patients with such risk f...
An Infectious cDNA Clone of SARS-CoV-2
Expert Summary: Xie, X et al. report the establishment of a reverse genetic system and the development of a reporter virus for SARS-COV2. This reporter virus could facilitate anti-viral testing and offers a huge advantage for the development of therapeutics for COVID-19.
2020-04-10
A framework for identifying regional outbreak and spread of COVID-19 from one-minute population-wide surveys
Expert Summary: The authors propose a tool that allows daily 1-minute population-wide surveys in order to trace COVID-19 infections. This tool would allow the assessment of development of symptoms caused by the virus and identifification of clusters of COVID-19 spread. The data be used by epidemiologists, public-health officials and policymakers. The authors show preliminary results from an Israeli survey of a cumulative number of over 74,000 responses and call for additional countries to join an international consortium to extend this concept in order to develop predictive models.
An alternative workflow for molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 - escape from the NA extraction kit-shortage
Expert Summary: There is currently a global shortage of viral nucleic acid (NA) extraction kits, which is affecting the diagnosis of an increasing number of suspected COVID-19 cases. This communication shows an alternative to the MagNA Pure purification step: heating for 5 min at 98°C using the SensiFAST SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR assay. This process has a 97.4 % accuracy.
