Glycoprotein News and Research

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Anticardiolipin antibodies and COVID-19

A new study has shown that anticardiolipin antibodies are associated with the novel coronavirus infection or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19.

10 Jun 2020

Unique antiviral action of cholesterol 25-hydroxylase against SARS-CoV-2

A new study by U.S. and Chinese researchers, currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server, demonstrates how cholesterol 25-hydroxylase and its enzymatic product 25-hydroxycholesterol can inhibit membrane fus

10 Jun 2020

Improving detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection among severely ill children

Researchers in the UK have conducted a study showing that children with a severe inflammatory syndrome had high levels of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), despite having tested negative for the virus by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

8 Jun 2020

New strategy may facilitate development of multi-epitope peptide vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

By combining T and B lymphocyte analysis with manufacturability heuristic, researchers from the US and Germany proposed a set of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine peptides to use in subsequent animal studies and clinical trials. Their paper is currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

7 Jun 2020

A SARS-CoV-2 antibody magnetic immuno-detection test

A new report, released on the preprint server bioRxiv by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, describes the development of an innovative serologic test that could provide a fast, easy, and inexpensive method of detecting high titers of antibody in the serum of SARS-CoV-2 infected people.

4 Jun 2020

SARS-CoV-2 gene deletions may cause milder infections and increase human-to-human transmission

In their recent paper released on the bioRxiv preprint server, a research group from Spain demonstrated how genome changes and deletions in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could represent a strategy of natural selection used for lessening the impact of infection in order to increase viral transmission potential.

4 Jun 2020

SARS-CoV-2 can adversely affect cardiac cells and heart function

A research group from Germany demonstrated a direct toxic effect of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on cardiac cells in their paper published on the bioRxiv* preprint server. The finding warrants an in-depth analysis of cardiac tissue in certain coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients, as well as close monitoring for any direct cardiomyocyte injury.

2 Jun 2020

Preventing novel coronavirus from entering into a host cell

How might the novel coronavirus be prevented from entering a host cell in an effort to thwart infection? A team of biomedical scientists has made a discovery that points to a solution.

30 May 2020

Ferritin heavy chain protein shows promise as a potential SARS-CoV-2 vaccine or antiviral

A new study published on the online preprint server bioRxiv in May 2020 reports the construction and testing of a new ferritin-based antigen-bearing protein that has biological activity towards the ACE2 receptor. This could indicate its potential for development as a vaccine or antiviral.

28 May 2020

ACE2 receptors in the kidney not linked to high BP or RAS blockers

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to smolder and flare up in various parts of the world, researchers are still trying to make sense of the virus, its routes of spread, its target tissues, and the immune responses it induces. One crucial piece of knowledge is that the primary viral receptor is a human enzyme called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

27 May 2020

Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 may explain its dominance and spread

Researchers at Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey, have identified mutations in the genome of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that may have contributed to its dominance in Europe and elsewhere.

21 May 2020

Computational immunology paves the way for SARS-CoV-2 peptide cocktail vaccine candidate

By employing an immunoinformatics approach, a new study available on the preprint server bioRxiv* shows how the combination of peptides designed from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid phosphoprotein and spike glycoprotein may trigger an improved immunological response with respectable safety profile, informing, in turn, further vaccine development.

21 May 2020

Does COVID-19 infect peripheral blood cells?

The emergence of the novel coronavirus outbreak in December 2019 was followed by its spread on a global scale unparalleled in the last 100 years. At present, it has claimed over 322,000 lives the world over, with over 4.88 million cases having tested positive.

19 May 2020

X-ray experiments demonstrate a new way to block the entry of SARS-CoV-2

As scientists across the globe race to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, an international team led by Davide Corti at Vir Biotechnology and David Veesler at the University of Washington has been working around the clock on a complementary approach - identifying neutralizing antibodies that could be used as a preventative treatment or as a post-exposure therapy.

19 May 2020

Study: Certain inflammatory demyelinating diseases belong to different category than multiple sclerosis

An antibody appears to make a big difference between multiple sclerosis and other disorders affecting the protective myelin sheath around nerve fibers, report Tohoku University scientists and colleagues in the journal Brain.

19 May 2020

New and unexplored angle in the binding of SARS-CoV-2 to host cells

Researchers in the Netherlands, Cuba, and Italy have made important discoveries about the carbohydrate-mediated binding of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein to host cell lectin receptors and host lung microbiota.

17 May 2020

Variations in genome’s 'dark matter' region can make patients susceptible to inflammatory diseases

A study led by researchers at the Babraham Institute in collaboration with the Wellcome Sanger Institute has uncovered how variations in a non-protein coding 'dark matter' region of the genome could make patients susceptible to complex autoimmune and allergic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease.

14 May 2020

Researchers identify CoV Mac1 proteins as a potential SARS-CoV-2 drug target

A recent study by researchers at the University of Kansas and published on the preprint server bioRxiv* reveals that Mac1 protein implicated in the infection process of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has a strikingly similar structure and activity in all coronaviruses – suggesting that possible future treatments targeting this protein may exert broad antiviral activity.

13 May 2020

Scientists discover a new way for T cells to attack diseased cells

Scientists at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences have discovered a new way for T cells to attack cells infected by viruses or deranged by cancer.

12 May 2020

Genomic sequences from all over the world help fight SARS-CoV-2

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the world, killing hundreds of thousands and infecting over 4.1 million, researchers are racing against time to understand the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The SARS-CoV-2 genome has now been sequenced in many different regions of the world, and researchers are collaborating by sharing information to better understand the make-up and mutations that the virus has undergone.

11 May 2020