Different T-cell and B-cell repertoire elicited by the SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine and S1 subunit vaccine in rhesus macaques.

Multiple types of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been used worldwide, but summarizing their immunologic efficacy post-vaccination remains challenging. The BCR and TCR sequencing based on single-cell sorting makes it possible to evaluate the vaccine-induced immune responses of B or T cells. In this study, we compared the repertoire diversities of B cells and T cells between a whole-virus inactivated vaccine and an S1 protein subunit vaccine in rhesus macaques. We found that the inactivated vaccine could induce a large antigen-specific-BCR repertoire with longer VH CDR3 (21 aa), while the CD3+ TCR α chains of the two vaccine groups showed a similar TCRV/J usage frequency. Detailed analysis of the TCR and BCR repertoires might be of interest for further understanding of the mechanisms of vaccine-induced immune responses.

A novel DNA and protein combination COVID-19 vaccine formulation provides full protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques.

The current study aims to develop a safe and highly immunogenic COVID-19 vaccine. The novel combination of a DNA vaccine encoding the full-length Spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 and a recombinant S1 protein vaccine induced high level neutralizing antibody and T cell immune responses in both small and large animal models. More significantly, the co-delivery of DNA and protein components at the same time elicited full protection against intratracheal challenge of SARS-CoV-2 viruses in immunized rhesus macaques. As both DNA and protein vaccines have been proven safe in previous human studies, and DNA vaccines are capable of eliciting germinal center B cell development, which is critical for high-affinity memory B cell responses, the DNA and protein co-delivery vaccine approach has great potential to serve as a safe and effective approach to develop COVID-19 vaccines that provide long-term protection.

Antibody responses in COVID-19 patients.

Measuring virus-specific antibody responses to emerging pathogens is a well-established and highly useful tool to diagnose such infections, understand interactions between the immune system and pathogens, and provide potential clues for the development of vaccines or therapeutic agents against such pathogens. Since the beginning of 2020, the discovery of SARS-CoV-2 as the emerging virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic has provided new insight into the complexity of antibody responses to this dangerous virus. The current review aims to sort out diverse and sometimes seemingly confusing findings to put together a cohesive understanding on the profile of antibody responses elicited in COVID-19 patients.

Exploring the potential therapeutic effect of traditional Chinese medicine on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) through a combination of data mining and network pharmacology analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Historically traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used as treatment during epidemics. During the recent COVID-19 pandemic patients evidence suggests that the use of TCM has provided health benefits and has been successfully used to control the spread of the disease in China. The aim of this study was to systematically explore the TCM formulae which have been used for the prevention and treatment of pneumonia or 'pestilence' to investigate their compatibility with the Chinese materia medica (CMM) and understand their potential mechanisms in the treatment of COVID-19. METHODS: Frequency analysis was performed to identify high-frequency CMM and CMM groups. Association rules analysis was applied to investigate the compatibility law of CMMs and generate the commonly used CMM groups. RESULTS: A total of 173 prescriptions were collected. The frequency analysis showed that seven out of ten high-frequency CMMs overlapped with Lianhua Qingwen Capsules (LHQWC), and five high-frequency pair-CMMs and four triple-CMMs were included in LHQWC, respectively. Then three groups of CMM were generated from association rules analysis, one of which is Ma Xing Shi Gan Decoction (MXSGD). The results of the protein-protein interaction network and enrichment analysis showed that the potential therapeutic mechanisms of the generated prescriptions were involved in the anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and neuroprotective effects. CONCLUSION: This study showed the importance of systematic research on TCM prescriptions and provided candidate CMM groups that have the potential to treat COVID-19. In vitro and in vivo experiments should be conducted to validate these network pharmacology results, which can provide more information for the development of potential antiviral drugs from TCM prescriptions. The combination of TCM treatment and modern medical approaches will benefit patients with COVID-19 and help to overcome the current epidemic.

Dynamic Chest CT Evaluation in Three Cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia.

A recent outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, was caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). There have been some reports of imaging findings regarding the disease's characteristic features. Here, we report three cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with dynamic pulmonary CT evaluation. The CT scan showed multiple regions of ground-glass opacities and patchy consolidation in COVID-19 patients and the CT scan was useful in tracking the progression or regression of COVID-19.