Archives: 2020-05-27

PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2020-05-27

SARS-CoV-2 strategically mimics proteolytic activation 2 of human epithelial sodium channel α-subunit (ENaC-α)

Molecular mimicry is an evolutionary strategy adopted by viruses to exploit the host cellular machinery. This paper reports that SARS-CoV-2 has evolved a unique S1/S2 cleavage site, absent in any previous coronavirus sequenced, resulting in striking mimicry of an identical FURIN-cleavable peptide on the human epithelial sodium channel α-subunit (ENaC-α). Genetic alteration of ENaC-α causes

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2020-05-27

In Covid-19 neutrophils induce an imbalanced “proteolytic storm”, fighted by human plasma transfusion proteolytic cascades balancing.

In a recent Comment published on EBioMedicine entitled “COVID-19 as a STING disorder with delayed oversecretion of Interferon-beta”, Berthelot and Lioté suggests that SARS-CoV-2 firstly inhibits interferon release but the NETs self-DNA induces delayed activation of STING with“cytokine storm”, causing the combination of interstitial lung disease and inflammatory vasculopathy. The assumption that SARS-CoV-2 had no

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2020-05-27

Convalescent plasma treatment of severe COVID-19: effective in un-intubated patients. Clinical trials needed

In this new paper, published on medXriv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.20.2010223 the outcomes of thirty-nine hospitalized patients with severe to life-threatening COVID-19 who received convalescent plasma transfusion were compared against a cohort of retrospectively matched controls. Plasma recipients were selected based on supplemental oxygen needs at the time of enrollment and the time elapsed since the onset of

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2020-05-23

Covid-19 critical conditions are due to neutrophils unfriendly fire inducing “proteolytic storm” and human plasma can be a fire hose.

In a paper just published on Preprints, REGENHEALTHSOLUTIONS Research Team shows that, in Covid-19 critically ill patients, serine proteases released by recruited neutrophils are responsible for endothelitis, NETosis, platelet activation, ULVWF multimers release, thrombi formation and MOF for viral sepsis. Based on Chinese CDCP report on COVID-19, 14% of patients presented severe disease and 5%

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2020-05-22

Smithsonian Science Education Center With Support of the World Health Organization Launches New COVID-19 Guide for Youth

The Smithsonian Science Education Center, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)—a partnership of 140 national academies of science, engineering and medicine—has developed “COVID-19! How can I protect myself and others?,” a new rapid-response guide for youth ages 8–17. The guide, which is based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals,

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2020-05-10

Newly discovered cell type plays crucial role in immune response to respiratory infections and explains how Covid-19 convalescent plasma helps to boost immune responses in virus-infected patients.

With a discovery that could rewrite the immunology textbooks, an international group of scientists, including the teams of Bart Lambrecht, Martin Guilliams, Hamida Hammad, and Charlotte Scott (all from the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research) identified a new type of antigen-presenting immune cell. These cells, that are part of an expanding family of dendritic cells,

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2020-05-10

Convalescent antibodies are getting first-choice for Covid-19 treatment

Antibodies from blood donated by people who recovered from the illness and hyper-immunoglobulins are becoming treatments of choice for COVID-19, with recombinant polyclonal antibody approaches to follow. A group of US academic researchers has sparked a nationwide effort to encourage people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma, which will be used to treat patients across

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2020-05-09

Observational Study of Hydroxychloroquine in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19

In a paper recently published by a team of New York researchers Hydroxychloroquine administration was not associated with either a greatly lowered or an increased risk of the composite end point of intubation or death. Hydroxychloroquine has been widely administered to patients with Covid-19 without robust evidence supporting its use. The association between hydroxychloroquine use

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