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ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 offers less protection against South African SARS-CoV-2 variant

The results of a double-blind, randomized, multisite placebo-controlled trial that was conducted in South Africa show that Oxford’s ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine has no efficacy against the B.1.351 variant in preventing mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and shows reduced neutralization properties of developed antibodies. The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Mar 2021

New approach to cancer immunotherapy may prevent autoimmunity

A team of researchers has found disrupting the interaction between cancer cells and certain immune cells is more effective at killing cancer cells than current immunotherapy treatments.

19 Mar 2021

Developing a COVID-19 vaccine using inactivated E. coli

A team of researchers inactivated whole-cell E.coli with a reduced genome and utilized this to express coronavirus-specific fusion peptides, demonstrating a potent anamnestic response.

19 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 spike stimulates hyperinflammation via Toll-like receptor 2

A new study, released on the bioRxiv* preprint server, describes the mechanism of inflammation in severe COVID-19, besides revealing a potential new therapeutic target to modulate the severity of COVID-19.

19 Mar 2021

New variant may not have changed COVID-19 pandemic course in UK, says study

A new study examines the effect of the new "Kent variant" of SARS-CoV-2 on the epidemic course within the UK.

19 Mar 2021

New proteomics method helps confirm COVID-19 transmission from mother to fetus

Researchers from Skoltech were part of a research consortium studying a case of vertical COVID-19 transmission from mother to her unborn child that resulted in major complications in the pregnancy, premature birth and death of the child.

19 Mar 2021

N-terminal domain antibodies play a key role in COVID immunity

Scientists are learning that a lesser-studied region on the pandemic coronavirus is recognized by COVID-19 infection-fighting antibodies. These antibodies were identified in blood samples from previously infected patients, and were found to potently prevent the virus from infecting cells.

19 Mar 2021

Mass vaccination needed to protect against future resurgences of COVID-19

The first long-term seroprevalence study of residents in Wuhan, China, has found that 6.9% of people in the city had antibodies against COVID-19 in April 2020, and 82% of these people had an asymptomatic infection.

19 Mar 2021

Engineering immunogens to focus immune response to SARS-CoV-2

Researchers have designed constructs by adding more glycans and adding the receptor-binding motif from related sarbecoviruses to focus the immune response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) receptor-binding motif. Such immunogens could potentially also neutralize other variants and coronaviruses.

18 Mar 2021

New study provides comparative analysis of twelve COVID-19 vaccines

A new study by Novateur Ventures provides a comparative analysis of twelve COVID-19 Vaccines that had initiated or announced the Phase III clinical trial stage by early November 2020.

18 Mar 2021

New technique uses cell's own recycling machinery to destroy disease-causing proteins

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a way to use a cell's own recycling machinery to destroy disease-causing proteins, a technology that could produce entirely new kinds of drugs.

18 Mar 2021

Undocumented pregnant women in Finland receive inadequate prenatal care, study shows

Undocumented women in Finland access pregnancy care later than others. Yet, screening of infectious diseases at the early stages of pregnancy would be particularly important to these women, a new study carried out in Helsinki, Finland, shows.

18 Mar 2021

Scientists explore structure of SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain with G485R mutation

Researchers at the Bio21 Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, The University of Melbourne, studied the structure of a SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) with a G485R mutation. This mutation is a residue and not directly involved in interactions with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) residues but found in the Β1´/Β2' loop region.

18 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 variants with E484K mutation show mRNA vaccine-induced antibody evasion

A recent study found that the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine had limited efficacy in identifying mutated receptor-binding domains (RBDs) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein similar to the B.1.351 and P.1 variants.

18 Mar 2021

How resistant is the SARS-CoV-2 Brazilian variant to antibodies?

Researchers based at the University of Oxford, UK, have shown that the P.1 Brazilian variant of SARS-CoV-2 is less resistant to natural or vaccine acquired antibody responses than the B.1.351, South African, variant, despite sharing convergent mutations.

18 Mar 2021

Study shows how coronavirus variants spread more quickly

The fast-spreading UK, South Africa, and Brazil coronavirus variants are raising both concerns and questions about whether COVID-19 vaccines will protect against them.

18 Mar 2021

Risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection as UK schools reopened in 2020 was very low, say researchers

A study conducted by Public Health England has found that the risk of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – was very low among both students and staff as primary schools partially and fully reopened over the latter half of 2020.

17 Mar 2021