The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
Researchers hope to blocks cells’ response to the virus
Instead of targeting the coronavirus with experimental drugs, UK researchers are trying a new approach.
They are targeting infected cells to attempt to repair damage inflicted by the virus and prevent it from spreading.
To make copies of itself, or replicate, inside infected cells, the virus activates a cellular response called the “unfolded protein response,” explained Nerea Irigoyen of the University of Cambridge.
In laboratory experiments, the researchers inhibited activation of this cellular response using experimental drugs.
As a result, virus replication was prevented, according to a report published on Thursday in PLoS Pathogens.
The unfolded protein response in infected cells “might be responsible at least to some extent” for some of the complications associated with COVID-19, such as respiratory distress and thickening and scarring of lung tissues, Irigoyen said.
The approach must still be tested in animals and humans. But the research team is hoping that drugs that block the unfolded-protein response will not only reduce patients’ viral burden but also relieve some of the symptoms associated with the infection.
“This means that patients might have a better outcome and recover in less time,” Irigoyen said.
Organ recipients may benefit from extra vaccine dose
Organ transplant recipients may not respond adequately to two-dose COVID-19 vaccines, but a third shot can sometimes be the charm, researchers said.
While antibody responses after two doses of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are generally excellent, responses in transplant recipients may be “markedly” reduced, according to a report published on Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine.
At Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, researchers gave a third dose to 30 organ transplant patients who had few or no antibodies after receiving the standard two vaccine doses.
The third shot was given on average 67 days after the second, often from a different vaccine manufacturer.
Two weeks after the third dose, 6 patients had gone from low antibody levels to high levels, another 6 had gone from having no detectable antibodies to having high levels, 2 had gone from no antibodies to low levels, and 16 still had no evidence of response to the vaccine.
“This sets the stage for larger studies, where we can better understand which patients will respond well to this approach and who might need a different approach, as well as studies of B cells and T cells that will inform what is happening deeper than just measurable antibodies,” said coauthor Dr. Dorry Segev. — Reuters