Immune responses in COVID-19 and potential vaccines: Lessons learned from SARS and MERS epidemic

Immune responses in COVID-19 and potential vaccines: Lessons learned from SARS and MERS epidemic

AUTHORS: Eakachai Prompetchara 1,2,3 Chutitorn Ketloy 1,2 Tanapat Palaga 4,5

AUTHOR AFFILIATIONS:
1 Center of Excellence in Vaccine Research and Development (Chula Vaccine Research Center Chula VRC), Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

2 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

3 Vaccines and Therapeutic Proteins Research Group, the Special Task Force for Activating Research (STAR), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

4 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

5 Center of Excellence in Immunology and Immune-mediated Diseases, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

ABSTRACT: As the world is witnessing the epidemic of COVID-19, a disease caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerging genetics and clinical evidences suggest a similar path to those of SARS and MERS. The rapid genomic sequencing and open access data, together with advanced vaccine technology, are expected to give us more knowledge on the pathogen itself, including the host immune response as well as the plan for therapeutic vaccines in the near future. This review aims to provide a comparative view among SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and the newly epidemic SARS-CoV-2, in the hope to gain a better understanding of the host-pathogen interaction, host immune responses, and the pathogen immune evasion strategies. This predictive view may help in designing an immune intervention or preventive vaccine for COVID-19 in the near future.

Treatment with convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China.

Treatment with convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China.

Mingxiang Ye and colleagues published this paper on April 15, 2020. Six laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital from February 11th to March 12th, 2020 received transfusions of ABO-compatible convalescent plasma. The clinicians then monitored for alleviation of symptoms, changes in radiologic abnormalities, and laboratory test outcomes.

These researchers also described a post-discharge asymptomatic “walking COVID-19” case in one of their patients. These “walking COVID-19” cases may be able to infect additional people.

The researchers measured the efficacy of convalescent plasma therapy in three SARS patients by measuring viral load. Their results revealed viral load dropped from 495×10*3, 76×10*3, or 650×10*3 copies/mL to zero or 1 copy/mL one day after transfusion.

AUTHORS : Ye M, Fu D, Ren Y, Wang F, Wang D, Zhang F, Xia X, Lv T

ABSTRACT : The discovery of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are causing public health emergency. A handful of literatures have summarized its clinical and radiologic features, whereas therapies for COVID-19 are rather limited. In order to evaluate the efficacy of convalescent plasma therapy in COVID-19 patients, we did this timely descriptive study. 6 laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients were enrolled and received the transfusion of ABO-compatible convalescent plasma. The efficacy of this intervention was determined by the alleviation of symptoms, changes in radiologic abnormalities and laboratory tests. No obvious adverse effect observed during the treatment. Transfusion of convalescent plasma led to a resolution of ground glass opacities (GGOs) and consolidation in patient #1, #2, #3, #4 and #6. In patient #1 and #5 who presented with SARS-CoV-2 in throat swab, convalescent plasma therapy elicited an elimination of virus. Serologic analysis indicated an immediate increase in anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers in patient #2 and #3, but not in patient #1. This study indicates that convalescent plasma therapy is effective and specific for COVID-19. This intervention has a special significance for eliminating SARS-CoV-2 and is believed to be a promising state-of-art therapy during COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/jmv.25882

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jmv.25882

Cryptic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Washington State

Cryptic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Washington State

Dr. Keith R. Jerome and Dr. Trevor Bedford describe the silent spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 in Washington state in January and February of 2020. While the first death in the United States was thought to be in Washington state, the viral evolution and results to date (April 25, 2020) have shown deaths in California prior to the case in Washington. The analysis described in this publication reveals that the exponential doubling and spread to be as short as 2 days. It also underscores the importance of early detection and surveillance sampling for respiratory pathogens.

More information on Dr. Jerome’s research focus can be found here.

AUTHORS: Bedford T, Greninger AL, Roychoudhury P, Lea M Starita, Famulare M, Huang M, Nalla A, Pepper G, Reinhardt A, Xie H, Shrestha L, Nguyen TN, Adler A, Brandstetter E, Cho S, Giroux D, Peter D Han, Fay K, Frazar CD, Ilcisin M, Lacombe K, Lee J, Kiavand A, Richardson M, Sibley TR, Truong M, Wolf CR, Nickerson DA, Rieder MJ, Englund JA, Hadfield J, Hodcroft EB, Huddleston J, Moncla LH, Müller NF, Neher RA, Deng X, Gu W, Federman S, Chiu C, Duchin J, Gautom R, Melly G, Hiatt B, Dykema P, Lindquist S, Queen K, Tao Y, Uehara A, Tong S, MacCannell D, Armstrong GL, Baird GS, Chu HY, Shendure J, Jerome KR.

2020. medRxiv: 2020.04.02.20051417.

ABSTRACT: Following its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late November or early December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has rapidly spread throughout the world. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic. Genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains allows for the reconstruction of transmission history connecting these infections. Here, we analyze 346 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from samples collected between 20 February and 15 March 2020 from infected patients in Washington State, USA. We found that the large majority of SARS-CoV-2 infections sampled during this time frame appeared to have derived from a single introduction event into the state in late January or early February 2020 and subsequent local spread, strongly suggesting cryptic spread of COVID-19 during the months of January and February 2020, before active community surveillance was implemented. We estimate a common ancestor of this outbreak clade as occurring between 18 January and 9 February 2020. From genomic data, we estimate an exponential doubling between 2.4 and 5.1 days. These results highlight the need for large-scale community surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 introductions and spread and the power of pathogen genomics to inform epidemiological understanding.

Evaluation of a COVID-19 IgM and IgG rapid test; an efficient tool for assessment of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2

Evaluation of a COVID-19 IgM and IgG rapid test; an efficient tool for assessment of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2

Dr. Johanna Lindahl and I met in 2015 and have shared a lot of wonderful scientific discussions since. I was happy to learn she is currently working in Sweden again after our time together in Kenya.

Dr. Lindahl and her colleagues have described rapid IgG and IgM antibody testing using samples from individuals with previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

AUTHORS: Tove Hoffman, Karolina Nissen, Janina Krambrich, Bengt Rönnberg, Dario Akaberi, Mouna Esmaeilzadeh, Erik Salaneck, Johanna Lindahl, & Åke Lundkvist

ABSTRACT: COVID-19 is the most rapidly growing pandemic in modern time, and the need for serological testing is most urgent. Although the diagnostics of acute patients by RT-PCR is both efficient and specific, we are also crucially in need of serological tools for investigating antibody responses and assessing individual and potential herd immunity. We evaluated a commercially available test developed for rapid (within 15 minutes) detection of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM and IgG by 29 PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases and 124 negative controls. The results revealed a sensitivity of 69% and 93.1% for IgM and IgG, respectively, based solely on PCR-positivity due to the absence of a serological gold standard. The assay specificities were shown to be 100% for IgM and 99.2% for IgG. This indicates that the test is suitable for assessing previous virus exposure, although negative results may be unreliable during the first weeks after infection. More detailed studies on antibody responses during and post infection are urgently needed.

Infection Ecology & Epidemiology Volume 10, 2020 - Issue 1

UW team illustrates the adverse impact of visiting ‘just one friend’ during COVID-19 lockdown

UW team illustrates the adverse impact of visiting ‘just one friend’ during COVID-19 lockdown

Dr. James Urton and I are colleagues from graduate school. Dr. Urton now writes scientific content for the University of Washington highlighting relevant research conducted by Seattle scientists and their collaborators.

In this article Dr. Urton highlights the risks and consequences inherent to having even brief interactions with people beyond your family unit and breaking social distancing recommendations.