Clinical characteristics and risk factors of COVID-19 patients with chronic hepatitis B: a multi-center retrospective cohort study / 医学前沿

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread globally. Although mixed liver impairment has been reported in COVID-19 patients, the association of liver injury caused by specific subtype especially chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with COVID-19 has not been elucidated. In this multi-center, retrospective, and observational cohort study, 109 CHB and 327 non-CHB patients with COVID-19 were propensity score matched at an approximate ratio of 3:1 on the basis of age, sex, and comorbidities. Demographic characteristics, laboratory examinations, disease severity, and clinical outcomes were compared. Furthermore, univariable and multivariable logistic and Cox regression models were used to explore the risk factors for disease severity and mortality, respectively. A higher proportion of CHB patients (30 of 109 (27.52%)) developed into severe status than non-CHB patients (17 of 327 (5.20%)). In addition to previously reported liver impairment markers, such as alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and total bilirubin, we identified several novel risk factors including elevated lactate dehydrogenase (⩾ 245 U/L, hazard ratio (HR) = 8.639, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.528-29.523; P < 0.001) and coagulation-related biomarker D-dimer (⩾ 0.5 µg/mL, HR = 4.321, 95% CI = 1.443-12.939; P = 0.009) and decreased albumin (< 35 g/L, HR = 0.131, 95% CI = 0.048-0.361; P < 0.001) and albumin/globulin ratio (< 1.5, HR = 0.123, 95% CI = 0.017-0.918; P = 0.041). In conclusion, COVID-19 patients with CHB were more likely to develop into severe illness and die. The risk factors that we identified may be helpful for early clinical surveillance of critical progression.

Study on Purification and Immunogenicity of Rabies Virus Nucleo protein / 中国病毒学

In order to establish the optimum condition for purifica tion of the nucleoprotein(NP) of rabies virus by immunoaffinity chromatography, the efficient and non-denaturative eluents(Mg-el) was obtained by using ELISA elution model; furthermore, it didn't damage the activity of NP. Two kind of NPs , expressed by recombinant vaccinia virus (rVac-N) and recombinant baculovirus (BRN), were purified by a Sepharose CL 4B column and a 2C12- Sepharose 4B colum n. By Western-blot and SDS-PAGE, high purity and good antigenical intact NPs w ere identified. The purified ribonucleoprotein (RNP) of rabies virus 5aG strain was also obtained. After immunized with NP and RNP, mice developed a strong anti -nucleoprotein response and were protected against a lethal challenge of rabies virus CVS strain. There were not difference been observed among the mice immuni zed with different purified protein. These data indicate that the NPs are antige nical and immunogenical comparable to the authentic rabies RNP and therefore pre sent a potential source of an effective ,safe and economical subunit vaccine.