The following is a summary of some of the most recent scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Antibodies to the common cold give clues to COVID-19 behavior
Among people who were never infected with the new coronavirus, some adults, and many children, may have antibodies that can neutralize the virus, researchers reported Friday in Science. Among 302 of these adults, 16 (5.3%) had antibodies, likely generated during infections with the “common cold” coronavirus, that reacted to a specific region of the spike protein in the new virus called the S2 subunit. Among 48 children and adolescents, 21 (43.8%) had these antibodies. In test tube experiments, blood serum from both older and younger uninfected individuals with cross-reactive antibodies could neutralize the new coronavirus. That was not the case for the serum of study participants who lacked these antibodies. “Together, these findings may help explain increased susceptibility to COVID-19 in older people and provide information on whether pre-established immunity to seasonal coronaviruses offers protection against SARS-CoV-2,” the journal editors said in a statement. The findings also suggest that targeting the S2 subunit in the coronavirus spike protein could be the basis for a drug or vaccine that works on multiple types of coronavirus.
Pulmonary CT Accelerates COVID-19 Diagnosis in Stroke Patients
In ER stroke patients, lung imaging studies can help detect COVID-19 before nasal and throat swab test results are obtained, the researchers say. Stroke can be a sign of COVID-19, but swab results can take days to be available. At three New York City hospitals in March and April, doctors ordered computed tomography (CTA) angiograms on 57 stroke patients within 24 hours of hospital admission, to screen for COVID-19-related pneumonia. Thirty patients were found to have COVID-19, based on the results of nasal swabs. But the CTA scans, in combination with the patients’ symptoms such as coughing and shortness of breath, allowed the diagnosis of COVID-19 with an accuracy of 83% before the results of the swab test were received. Screening for possible COVID-19 in stroke patients based on symptoms alone is not reliable, because they may not have symptoms or may not be able to speak, the researchers note in their report published in the American Heart Journal Stroke. Association. “Early diagnosis using CT scans has helped our center protect other patients and staff through early isolation, and has also allowed us to start early supportive care for those suspected of having a stroke who are COVID-19. positives, “co-author Dr. Charles Esenwa of Montefiore Medical Center said in a press release.
New coronavirus escapes from cells “with garbage”
The new coronavirus uses a surprising pathway to get out of infected cells and infect others, researchers have found. It hijacks a cellular structure called the lysosome, which is normally where cellular debris is destroyed. But the virus uses lysosomes as escape hatches, the researchers report in Cell. “To my knowledge, the coronavirus is one of 2-3 viruses that do this, and certainly the only enveloped virus,” said co-author Nihal Altan-Bonnet of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, referring to viruses that have a membrane that surrounds your genetic material. . “All other enveloped viruses … use other pathways for cell-to-cell propagation,” Altan-Bonnet added. These include influenza, hepatitis C, Dengue, Zika, West Nile, and Ebola. When lysosomes break down bacteria and viruses into small pieces, he explained, “these small pieces show up on the surface of the cell to alert the immune system” to the presence of invaders. By using the cell’s garbage disposal system to get out, the new coronavirus deactivates the lysosome and disrupts the alert to the immune system, he said. “We believe that our discovery of the pathway that coronaviruses use to get out of cells will be critical to understanding how these viruses wreak havoc on our bodies, particularly our immune systems.”
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