Research in brief

ABSTRACT

Vimentin in SARS-CoV-2 entry Extracellular vimentin, a structural protein widely expressed in endothelial cells in the vascular system, enables SARS-CoV-2 entry into human cells say researchers who found that knockdown of vimentin significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection of human endothelial cells, whereas overexpression of vimentin with ACE2, the entry receptor for SARS-CoV-2, significantly increased the infection rate. According to the study's lead author, the situation has changed little for children in Africa since the study was done. The study's researchers allowed no-CTL4 and intact-CTL4 mosquitoes to feed on human blood samples laced with Plasmodium falciparum parasites.