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Researchers led by Indian-origin scientist identify genes that fight the virus

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WASHINGTON: US researchers led by an Indian-origin scientist have identified a set of human genes that fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, a study that could help in understanding the factors that affect disease severity and suggesting possible therapeutic options.
The study by scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in San Diego, California, was published in the journal Molecular Cell.
The genes in question are related to interferons, the body’s frontline virus fighters.
“We wanted to gain a better understanding of the cellular response to SARS-CoV-2, including what drives a strong or weak response to infection,” says Sumit K. Chanda, professor, and director of the Immunity and Pathogenesis Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and lead author of the study.
“We’ve gained new insights into how the virus exploits the human cells it invades, but we are still searching for its Achilles heel so that we can develop optimal antivirals,” he said.
Knowing which genes help control viral infection can greatly assist researchers’ understanding of factors that affect disease severity and also suggest possible therapeutic options, the institute said in a press release.
Soon after the start of the pandemic, clinicians found that a weak interferon response to SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in some of the more severe cases of Covid-19.
This knowledge led Chanda and his collaborators to search for the human genes that are triggered by interferons, known as interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), which act to limit SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Based on knowledge gleaned from SARS-CoV-1, the virus that caused a deadly, but relatively brief, outbreak of disease from 2002 to 2004, and knowing that it was similar to SARS-CoV-2, the investigators were able to develop laboratory experiments to identify the ISGs that control viral replication in Covid-19, the statement said.
“We found that 65 ISGs controlled SARS-CoV-2 infection, including some that inhibited the virus’ ability to enter cells, some that suppressed manufacture of the RNA (Ribonucleic acid) that is the virus’s lifeblood, and a cluster of genes that inhibited assembly of the virus,” Chanda said.
“What was also of great interest was the fact that some of the ISGs exhibited control across unrelated viruses, such as seasonal flu, West Nile and HIV, which leads to AIDS”.
As a next step, the researchers will look at the biology of SARS-CoV-2 variants that continue to evolve and threaten vaccine efficacy.
The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 139.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 2.99 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

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Researchers find supplements may protect those with low vitamin D levels from severe Covid-19

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WASHINGTON: Patients with low vitamin D levels who are hospitalised for Covid-19 may have a lower risk of dying or requiring mechanical ventilation if they receive vitamin D supplementation of at least 1,000 units weekly, according to a study presented virtually at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting.
The findings were published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
“Given how common vitamin D deficiency is in the world and the United States, we believe that this research is highly relevant right now,” said co-author Sweta Chekuri, M.D., of Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York.
Research has shown that vitamin D supplementation can prevent inflammation in other respiratory diseases, but there have been limited studies examining the role of vitamin D supplementation in Covid-19.
The purpose of the study was to determine whether being supplemented with vitamin D before being admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 resulted in less severe Covid-19 disease in patients with a low vitamin D level.
The researchers studied 124 adult patients with low vitamin D that was measured up to 90 days before their admission for Covid-19. They compared the patients who were supplemented with at least 1,000 units of vitamin D weekly to those who had not received vitamin D supplements in terms of whether they were mechanically ventilated or died during admission.
They found that patients who were supplemented were less likely to be mechanically ventilated or to die the following admission, though the finding wasn’t statistically significant (37.5 percent of patients who were not supplemented vs. 33.3 percent of those who were) They also found that more than half of those who should have been supplemented were not.
“Though we weren’t able to show a definitive link to severe Covid-19, it is clear that patients with low vitamin D should receive supplementation not only for bone health, but also for stronger protection against severe Covid-19,” said co-author Corinne Levitus, D.O., of Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
“We hope this research will encourage clinicians to discuss adding this supplement with their patients who have low vitamin D, as this may reduce the odds of people developing severe Covid-19.”

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Researchers highlight outcomes of Covid-19 transmission from mother to fetus

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MOSCOW: Researchers from Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology studied 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. The consortium then used a Skoltech-developed proteomics method to verify the diagnosis.
The paper was published in the journal Viruses detailed the effects of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, on maternal and perinatal outcomes are poorly understood due to limited data and research in pregnant women with Covid-19.
There is some evidence suggesting vertical transmission from mother to fetus during pregnancy is possible, as, for instance, in China, immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies were found in babies born to mothers with positive SARS-CoV-2 tests.
Most known cases of Covid-19 in pregnant women have been in the third trimester of pregnancy, yet it is in the second trimester that the immune system of the mother is significantly less active.
Professor Evgeny Nikolaev, Dr Alexey Kononikhin and Dr Alexander Brzhozovskiy of Skoltech and their colleagues in the consortium report the case of a healthy 27-year-old woman who got moderately sick with Covid-19 during the 21st week of her pregnancy.
After two weeks of illness when the patient had already tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 and had no symptoms, an ultrasound scan detected severe abnormalities with the fetus, including growth restriction and impaired blood flow in the umbilical artery.
A premature boy was born via cesarean section two weeks later and died after a day and a half in NICU. The patient had no previous risk factors of severe neonatal pathology, and the pregnancy had developed normally until Covid-19.
The child tested positive for Covid-19 IgG antibodies, and a PCR test on the placenta and umbilical cord blood was positive for three SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-like genes.
“The results of independent polymerase chain reaction (PCR), mass spectrometry and immunohistochemistry analyses of placenta tissue, umbilical cord blood and child blood jointly indicated vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from mother to the fetus, which we conclude to be the major cause for the development of maternal vascular malperfusion in the studied case,” the paper notes.
The results also present the first confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in the infected placenta by proteomics and confirm the potential of mass-spectrometry approaches for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in biological fluids and tissues.
“The mass spectrometry-based method of virus detection used in this study was developed at Skoltech last year. In this method, the S- and N-proteins of the virus are unambiguously detected. This approach provides 100%-selectivity for virus detection, making mass spectrometry the gold standard for Covid diagnostics. The method can be used without any modification for detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus with any mutations,” Professor Nikolaev says.
“The studied case clearly showed that transplacental transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection is possible not only in the last trimester of pregnancy but also in earlier stages of pregnancy. Transplacental transmission can cause the inflammation of placenta and neonatal viremia with the damage of various organs and systems,” the authors conclude.

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