Delivery of MERS antigen encapsulated in α-GalCer-bearing liposomes elicits stronger antigen-specific immune responses.

Alpha-Galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) effectively activates the natural killer T (NKT) cells to secrete remarkable amounts of Th1 and Th2 cytokines and therefore, acts as a potential immunoadjuvant in vaccine formulation. In the present study, we prepared α-GalCer-bearing or α-GalCer-free liposomes and loaded them with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus papain-like protease (α-GalCer-Lip-MERS-CoV PLpro or Lip-MERS-CoV PLpro). These formulations were injected in mice to investigate the antigen-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. The immunisation with α-GalCer-Lip-MERS-CoV PLpro or Lip-MERS-CoV PLpro did not induce any notable toxicity in immunised mice. The results demonstrated that mice immunised with α-GalCer-Lip-MERS-CoV PLpro showed greater antigen-specific antibody titre, switching of IgG isotyping to IgG2a subclass and higher lymphocyte proliferation. Moreover, the splenocytes from α-GalCer-Lip-MERS-CoV PLpro immunised mice secreted greater levels of IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-2 and IL-12. Interestingly, a booster dose induced stronger memory immune responses in mice previously immunised with α-GalCer-Lip-MERS-CoV PLpro. In summary, α-GalCer-Lip-MERS-CoV PLpro may prove to be a promising vaccine formulation to protect the individuals against MERS-CoV infection.

Comparison between clinical characteristics and laboratory findings among patients with complicated and noncomplicated SARS-CoV-2 infection: A single-center experience from Shebin Al-Kom, Egypt.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is considered a serious highly infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, resulting in more than 6.27 million deaths worldwide. AIM OF THE STUDY: The study aimed to compare clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of COVID-19 patients with complications and without complications and discriminate the important risk factors for the complications and deaths. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 75 confirmed COVID-19 positive patients; out of which 49 were severely-ill cases. Analysis of all patients' clinical and laboratory information on admission including serum ferritin, thrombotic activity (d-dimer), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein (CRP), creatinine, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase were done. RESULTS: Lymphopenia, tachycardia, tachypnea, elevated CRP, d-dimer, serum ferritin, LDH, and decreased SpO2 were significantly associated with complicated cases (p < .05 for all). By using multivariate logistic regression analysis models, elevated serum ferritin and tachycardia were significantly correlated with the increased odds of complicated COVID-19 cases (odds ratio [confidence interval 95%] = 10.42 [2.32-46.89] and 8.01 [1.17-55.99]; respectively) (p = .002 and .007, respectively). CONCLUSION: Lymphocytopenia, d-dimer, LDH, and CRP levels, which were significantly linked to the severity of COVID-19, were the prognostic biomarkers to predict the disease severity.