Page 11 - Ace2 News Today

Forkhead box Os potential therapeutic use in the treatment of COVID-19 In a recent study, Indian researchers from the Department of Biochemistry, University of Delhi, reviewed a possible vital coalition of FoxOs - the Forkhead Box O subfamily of protein transcription factors, with SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the etiological agent of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease). This review work is posted in the journal, Open Biology, published by the Royal Society. While mo...

Smoking and vaping increase ACE2 levels and virus spike binding in airway epithelium The continuing spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) globally has not only taken a great toll on human health but threatens the economic stability of the human race. SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is unpredictable in its effects, as it has the potential to cause devastating disease in some while leaving most individual...

Researchers scour what is known to come up with a hypothesis of why blood clots can be a major problem in COVID-19

In a paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv by Kirchhoff et al. (May 31st, 2021) it is demonstrated that a single mutation to the RaTG13 spike protein results in significantly greater affinity towards the human receptor, indicating that the presence of a positively charged amino group at this position better facilitates interaction with the human ACE2 receptor, and helping to identify other viruses with zoonotic potential.

Novel protein interactions with ACE2 disrupted by SARS-CoV-2, contributes to COVID-19 pathologies The novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused severe morbidity and mortality across the world. Other than flu-like symptoms of respiratory disease, SARS-CoV-2 infection can also cause systemic manifestations, leading to a wide range of pathologies, including thrombosis and microvascular injury and stroke, vascular system disruption, gastrointestinal c...

In January 2020, the first complete severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome sequence was deposited to GenBank. Since then, the amount of new genome sequences has increased rapidly at GenBank and GISAID. This has laid the foundations for analyzing the virulence, antigenicity, pathogenicity, and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 mutations.

In a short correspondence paper recently uploaded to the Lancet by Ramanathan, Muthukumar et al. (May 19th, 2021) the affinity of labeled SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain proteins sourced from each of these two variants of concern towards human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) recombinant proteins is investigated using microscale thermophoresis, confirming the enhanced affinity towards the receptor observed in other studies.

Researchers develop a nanoparticle-based formulation with anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity A study recently published in the journal Matter has demonstrated the development and validation of a nanoparticle-based formulation, capable of completely inhibiting the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection blocking the interaction between viral spike protein and host cell angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). A scanning electron microscope image of a nanotrap (orange) bindin...

Why do we lose our sense smell/taste with COVID? The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) enzyme attached to the membranes of cells is the entry point for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). They are abundantly found all over the body and most prominently in the lungs and nose. This coincides with initial symptoms exhibiting loss of smell and respiratory problems. Another early symptom of SARS-CoV-2 infection is loss of taste, although the mechanism of why this happe...

Experimental evidence that ADAM17 inhibition prevents severe COVID-19 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that is contagious in humans. It is the causal agent of the ongoing coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This virus causes a mild to severe infection and has claimed over 2.95 million lives worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 is the successor to SARS-CoV-1, the virus that caused the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak. Both SARS and SARS-CoV-2...