Let’s hope the COVID-19 pandemic lasts forever. Every two weeks, we collect recently published evidence that reminds us of that.
In our latest episode, we reported on a promising candidate vaccine in monkeys and a new trial of an existing drug, among other innovations.
In this function, we notice an existing drug that can only treat the infection. We are also learning about T cells and how a new blood test can boost vaccine progression and mass detection.
In addition, we are interested in a variety of immune system-modifying drugs that would possibly be the ultimate effective remedy for severe disease bureaucracy.
Stay informed with live updates on the existing COVID-19 outbreak and our coronavirus medium for more prevention and treatment tips.
Researchers have found that a drug that doctors lately use to treat situations as diverse as bipolar disorder and hearing loss also has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. These houses make him a smart candidate to treat COVID-19.
The drug is called Ebselen and the fact that it is already used indicates its safety. In addition, past evidence has shown that Ebselen can block enzymes that the new coronavirus wants to reflect on healthy host cells.
This enzyme is called Mpro, and researchers have described this protease as “indispensable” for sarS-CoV-2 replication. As a result, Mpro is a drug candidate.
In the new study, Professor Juan de Pablo of the School of Molecular Pritzker Engineering at the University of Chicago, IL, and his colleagues set out to see if Ebselen can inhibit Mpro protease.
To get out, they created PC models of the drug and Mpro to see how they interact. They found that the action of the drug has two components:
“In addition to binding to the enzyme catalyst, Ebselen also strongly binds to a remoteArray that interferes with the catalytic function of the enzyme, depending on a mechanism in which data is transported from one region of a giant molecule to another remote. region away from it through sophisticated structural reorganizations.
“These effects underscore Ebselen’s promise as a reused drug for SARS-CoV-2.”
– The authors of the study
In an exclusive interview for Medical News Today, James Hindley, Ph.D., explained how he and his collaborator Martin Scurr, Ph.D. – an associate researcher at Cardiff University School of Medicine in the UK – is working on a new one that measures a key detail of the immune system: T cells.
Hindley, who is the chief executive of Indoor Biotechnologies in Cardiff, told MNT that the maximum of existing tests focuses on comparing antibodies with SARS-CoV-2 immunity.
“However, an essential detail of our immune reaction to viruses is the T cell. They also provide immune reactions to reminiscence and would possibly be even more sensitive than antibodies,” Hindley said.
T cells are a type of lymphocyte or white blood cell that occurs through the bone marrow. Even before neutralizing antibodies come into play, other types of T cells will have to be painted in combination to lead to the production of antibodies.
“The control we develop can provide quantitative effects that measure the magnitude of an individual’s T-cell reaction to SARS-CoV-2. We can also run the same control in parallel for other coronaviruses and human viruses, such as influenza. a person’s immune state.”
– James Hindley, Ph.D.
The researcher added that verification will be useful “for the progression of vaccines; to determine whether a T-cell reaction has been generated to the vaccine and whether it is good enough to protect against infection.”
“We also believe that this verification will allow public skill organizations to conduct much broader population examinations. [C] would be carried out through laboratories along with antibody controls to determine what constitutes protective immunity.”
Finally, the researcher also explained how this is more effective than others.
“Where we innovate, we analyze the minimum needs for this test, to gain the knowledge needed to answer the question of whether a user has express T-cell answers.”
“By offering these elements without the added complexity, we have made this verification much less difficult to perform in almost every lab.”
New through Marcus Buggert, immunologist at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, he also has T cells in his heart.
Buggert and his team discovered that 30 of the other 31 people who recovered from a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection had T mobile reminiscence responses to the new virus.
In the same sample, 27 had antibodies opposed to coronavirus. These findings go up to the new emerging direction that it uses T cells as an option for COVID-19 immunity.
In the new study, T-cell responses were still visible months after a mild infection, even in the absence of antibodies.
“In the absence of a protective vaccine,” Buggert says, “it is imperative to know if other people are exposed or infected, especially those who have asymptomatic or very benign bureaucracy of the disease that are likely to act inadvertently as the main transmitters,” expands physically powerful adaptive immune responses. SARS-CoV-2. »
“Our effects recommend that dependence on antibody responses may underestimate the degree of immunity at the population level opposite SARS-CoV-2. The next apparent step is to determine whether physically powerful reminiscence T moving responses in the absence of detectable antibodies can protect against COVID-19 in the long term.
– Marcus Buggert
Finally, an observation study found that a variety of drugs called interleukin receptor inhibitors-6 (IL-6) is of maximum effectiveness in treating severe COVID-19 bureaucracy.
In fact, the new study found that these drugs are even more effective than remdesivir or dexamethasone, the other two remedies widely identified as beneficial based on clinical trial outcomes.
Health professionals prescribe IL-6 receptor inhibitors for autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, to decrease the overreaction of the immune system.
IL-6 receptor inhibitors, as suggested, block IL-6 receptors, which is an immune signaling molecule, or cytokine.
In COVID-19, this action is helping to calm the phenomenon known as cytokine storm, which can have life-threatening consequences in others with the disease.
In the new article, which was the first author of Dr. Pranay Sinha of the Infectious Diseases Section of Boston University School of Medicine, MA, the researchers said that participants who won the 1L-6 inhibitors “had particularly superior extra oxygen.” more complex disease than patients in the remethasivir and dexamethasone trials and the mortality rate is expected to be higher. »
However, IL-6 inhibitor receptors “had a lower mortality rate than patients in the intervention and equipment in those trials.”
In addition, the mortality rate for participants in need of ICU care is 22.9%. This rate “significantly decreases than published mortality of 45-50% in the other extensive care cohorts”.
“Most patients (85.5%) they also received their live license, which is higher than the rate reported with popular attention (36-66%) during a follow-up period.” In general, the authors conclude:
“The use [of the IL-6 inhibitor] was related to a minimisation of mortality, a minimisation of the rate of intubation, a higher likelihood of being released alive, and a shorter length of stay.”
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