A thread to share news about COVID-19.

OK, first the Good News:
http://www.dailymagazine.news/aspirin-could-be-key-in-helping-covid-19-patients-recover-nid-1351740.html

Now the Bad News:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54842643

And a bit more Good News:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/health/coronavirus-ferrets-vaccine-spray.html (may require subscription)
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/524785-nasal-spray-prevents-covid-19-infection-in-test (free version)

Some threads where I've posted COVID-19 news links for other projects:


Rosetta@home

https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/forum_thread.php?id=13719


World Community Grid

https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread_thread,42354_offset,0


TN-Grid

http://gene.disi.unitn.it/test/forum_thread.php?id=265

Folding@home

https://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=35927


Expect a lot of duplication between those threads,

Common cold antibodies yield clues to COVID-19 behavior

Among people who were never infected with the new coronavirus, a few adults - and many children - may have antibodies that can neutralize the virus, researchers reported on Friday in Science. Among 302 such adults, 16 (5.3%) had antibodies, likely generated during infections with "common cold" coronaviruses, that reacted to a specific region of the spike protein on 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 with serum from study participants who lacked these antibodies. "Together, these findings may help explain higher COVID-19 susceptibility in older people and provide insight into whether pre-established immunity to seasonal coronaviruses offers protection against SARS-CoV-2," the publishers of the journal said in a statement. The findings also suggest that targeting the S2 subunit on the coronavirus spike protein might be the basis for a drug or vaccine that works on multiple types of coronavirus. (https://bit.ly/3evCSFB)

https://news.yahoo.com/common-cold-antibodies-hold-clues-184410434.html

English study suggests T cells could be sufficient to protect from COVID-19

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-tcell/english-study-suggests-t-cells-could-be-sufficient-to-protect-from-covid-19-idUSKBN27Q004

English study suggests T cells could be sufficient to protect from COVID-19

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-tcell/english-study-suggests-t-cells-could-be-sufficient-to-protect-from-covid-19-idUSKBN27Q004

Very simliar results from a German study (University of Freiburg): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-01143-2

An upcoming paper by the Dreamlab Imperial College of London team will report on their findings.

Among them, one caught my eye since we are currently docking molecules against 3CLpro:

"For example, among our top-ranked molecules epigallocatechin 3-gallate was demonstrated experimentally to inhibit 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro) [38];

I have no idea if that molecule or any of the other 52 phytochemicals they identified as having inhibitory activity on SARS-CoV-2 is being studied here, but I thought I'd share.

Congratulations tea (especially green) lovers.

Dreamlab is a mobile distributed computing project available for Android and iOS.

Here is an first detailed view of the new UK Covid Mutation that is quickly spreading in UK lately: https://virological.org/t/preliminary-genomic-characterisation-of-an-emergent-sars-cov-2-lineage-in-the-uk-defined-by-a-novel-set-of-spike-mutations/563

Just an hour ago the netherlands confirmed the first case of this mutation, named B.1.1.7. It also seems to be more willing to mutate than the "normal" Covid.

Conclusion

We report a rapidly growing lineage in the UK associated with an unexpectedly large number of genetic changes including in the receptor-binding domain and associated with the furin cleavage site. Given (i) the experimentally-predicted and plausible phenotypic consequences of some of these mutations, (ii) their unknown effects when present in combination, and (iii) the high growth rate of B.1.1.7 in the UK, this novel lineage requires urgent laboratory characterisation and enhanced genomic surveillance worldwide.

Do you think your able to boot those beasts up soon-ish?

Common cold antibodies yield clues to COVID-19 behavior [...]

In case of mutation -- in spike proteins if I remember well -- as we can see in the UK (and spreading a bit everywhere), doesn't it rule this out?

One could think the opposite (the mutation weaker to common cold antibodies) but the mutation is for the virus to adapt to its environment, isn't it?

Correct me if I'm wrong ; I didn't studied the mutation of viruses in depth (just a bit in biology and biochemistry class at uni before droppint out).

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micropro

The MMR vaccine offers some protection against COVID-19.

Analysis of Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) Titers of Recovered COVID-19 Patients

https://mbio.asm.org/content/11/6/e02628-20

The Mystery Of India's Plummeting COVID-19 Cases

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/02/01/962821038/the-mystery-of-indias-plummeting-covid-19-cases

You should model the interaction of these two drug repurposing candidates as SARS therapeutics.

How the Search for Covid-19 Treatments Faltered While Vaccines Sped Ahead
"Doctors at French psychiatric hospitals had noticed that relatively few patients became ill with Covid-19 compared with the staff members who cared for them. The researchers speculated that the drugs the patients were taking could be protecting them. One of those drugs, the antipsychotic chlorpromazine, had been shown in laboratory experiments to prevent the coronavirus from multiplying."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/health/covid-drugs-antivirals.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Plitidepsin has potent preclinical efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 by targeting the host protein eEF1A
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/01/22/science.abf4058

Could the antipsychotic chlorpromazine be a potential treatment for SARS-CoV-2?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7381925/

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Licensed drug could reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection by up to 70 per cent, reveals study

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/924448

A New Covid Variant On The Loose: B.1.621

A group of seven residents in a Belgian nursing home died after infection with a new variant, all of whom were fully vaccinated according to virologists on the scene. Though the vaccine used in these residents was not made public, it was likely either AstraZeneca or an mRNA vaccine such as Pfizer and Moderna, among those most frequently used in the country.

The new variant, B.1.621, has yet to receive a greek letter designation from the World Health Organization. The variant already accounts for around 2% of coronavirus infections in the United States, and as much as 10% in Miami, according to Carlos Migoya, CEO of Jackson Health System. The variant can be traced back to identification in samples from Colombia in March 2021 and according to the GISAID coronavirus database, the variant has been identified in as many as 28 countries, but potentially more.

Despite not having the official label of Variant of Interest or Concern, it should be noted that B.1.621 has certain characteristics that suggest it may be worth watching, as it could become a variant of interest or concern in the near future. Here we analyze those mutations and summarize what we know about their likely effects on transmissibility, virulence, vaccine evasion, and pathogenesis.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2021/08/12/a-new-killer-on-the-loose-b1621/?sh=6f04c0ea3d1f

Looks interesting.

Prophylaxis, treatment with probenecid inhibits 'virus replication' in COVID-19, flu, RSV

https://www.healio.com/news/rheumatology/20210910/prophylaxis-treatment-with-probenecid-inhibits-virus-replication-in-covid19-flu-rsv?utm_source=selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news&M_BT=6620114329042

Lowering Blood Insulin Levels Could Lower Risk Of Getting COVID-19: Study

https://medicaldialogues.in/diabetes-endocrinology/news/lowering-blood-insulin-levels-could-lower-risk-of-getting-covid-19-study-83632

Scientists Identify New Antibody For Covid, Variants: Report

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/scientists-identify-new-antibody-for-covid-19-variants-report-2597625

Covid: New heavily mutated variant B.1.1.529 in South Africa raises concern

We're back in familiar territory - growing concern about a new variant of coronavirus. The latest is the most heavily mutated version discovered so far - and it has such a long list of mutations that it was described by one scientist as "horrific", while another told me it was the worst variant they'd seen.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59418127

Two doses of a Covid vaccine are not enough to stop you catching the Omicron variant, UK scientists have warned.
Early analysis of UK Omicron and Delta cases showed the vaccines were less effective at stopping the new variant.

However, a third booster dose significantly increased protection to around 75%.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59615005

Omicron is a wake-up call for COVID-19 vaccine developers

Arrival of the highly-mutated Omicron variant is a wake-up call to develop vaccines less susceptible to the rapid changes of the coronavirus, leading virologists and immunologists told Reuters.
Most first-generation COVID-19 vaccines target the spike protein on the outer surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus used to infect human cells. Omicron has prompted alarm among scientists because it has far more mutations than earlier variants, including more than 30 on its spike. Research to determine the extent to which Omicron evades immunity from existing vaccines or prior infection is underway.

New data on the Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine show some degree of reduced protection with the two-shot regimen. Even if current shots remain effective for now, the dramatic evolution of the virus highlights the need for vaccines targeting parts of the virus less prone to mutate. "One thing that is clear from Omicron is that the virus... is not going to go away," said Dr. Larry Corey, a virologist at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center who is overseeing U.S. government-backed COVID-19 vaccine trials. "There's a need for better vaccines."

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-is-wake-up-call-covid-19-vaccine-developers-2021-12-08/