Our GI tracts, lungs, urinary tract etc are lined with mucus 👉 and, by using the #pathogen P. aeruginosa as a model, this team found that exposure to specific glycans in this mucus triggered downregulation of virulence genes involved in biofilm formation: nature.com/articles/s4156…
2/2 More specifically they showed that showed that “isolated #mucins act at various scales, suppressing distinct virulence pathways, promoting a planktonic lifestyle, reducing cytotoxicity to human epithelia in vitro and attenuating #infection in a porcine burn model.”
3/3 Commenting on the study, Prof K. Ribbeck at MIT says “what we have here is a therapeutic gold mine..These glycans have #biological functions that are very broad...They have the ability to regulate how #microbes behave and really tune their identity”:sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/…
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Tell @ChrisCuomo that 33 scientists from 14 institutions joined forces to write this paper documenting evidence for #SARS-CoV-2 persistence as a potential driver of #LongCOVID. We call for more clinical trials of drugs capable of clearing persistent virus: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37667052/
2/ We have formed a global #Consortium to study SARS-CoV-2 persistence: to determine if reservoirs of the #virus in LongCOVID tissue can drive widespread dysfunction including clotting, #microbiome, and neuroimmune abnormalities: polybio.org/longcovid
3/ Thus far, members our Consortium or our colleagues (including at NIH) have found persistent #SARS-CoV-2 RNA or proteins in tissue/nerve samples collected from dozens of human body & brain locations: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36517603/
I want to add that I see #SARS-CoV-2 persistence as part of a larger picture in which other latent pathogens and/or #microbiome organisms also harbored by a patient play an important role in the ultimate set up symptoms they develop
2/ Pathogens harbored by a patient at the time of SARS-CoV-2 #infection may serve as a predisposing factor to either persistence of the virus or increased disease in the acute phase
3/ E.g. Bartonella is a persistent #bacteria that drives blood vessel dysfunction by infecting #vascular endothelial cells. So someone with Bartonella may be more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2’s detrimental impact on blood vessels, and have more trouble clearing virus from such sites
Incredible to see the technology being developed openly here - not just to mitigate #COVID-19 but to create an innovative global infrastructure that positions humanity in excellent shape to combat the next airborne #virus pandemic
2/ To advance this movement in which novel tools to study & contain airborne #pathogens are actively being built, one must reject the narrative that there are only two paths forward 1) To 'care' abt airborne #infection means lockdowns 2) Freedom means ignoring airborne infection
3/ It's 2023 and many intermediate solutions are possible. We can install UV light and filter #technologies in schools, airports, even homes - to remove viruses from the air. With enough of these tools in a room, people may be able to interact freely without getting infected
Incredible new paper demonstrating #SARS-CoV-2 persistence + associated immune modulation in macaque monkeys. The team found replication competent SARS-CoV-2 virus in macaque lung alveolar #macrophages beyond 6 months postinfection: nature.com/articles/s4159…
2/ IFN-γ production was impaired in NK cells from macaques with persisting virus. Moreover, IFN-γ also enhanced the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-E on lung alveolar macrophages, possibly inhibiting NK cell-mediated killing
3/ In the lab, increasing SARS-CoV-2 levels during culture corresponded to ongoing viral replication and were accompanied by #virus-induced morphological changes including filiform extensions that connected multiple macrophages, with viral proteins detected in these extensions.
This new preprint found that exposure + antibody responses to previous Coronaviruses may modulate the NeuroPASC (#LongCovid) immune response in a manner that could make such patients less likely to clear the SARS-CoV-2 virus: medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
2/ Specifically, they found that neuroPASC patients exhibited attenuated systemic antibody responses against #SARS-CoV-2, characterized by decreased capacity to activate antibody-dependent complement deposition, NK cell activation + to bind Fcγ receptors
3/ The neuroPASC patients also showed significantly expanded antibody responses to other common #Coronaviruses including 229E, HKU1, NL63 and OC43
I am excited to share our new position paper on #SARS-CoV-2 reservoir (viral persistence) in Long COVID or post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC): nature.com/articles/s4159…
2/ We review evidence showing that some Long COVID patients may not fully clear the SARS-CoV-2 #virus after acute infection. Instead, replicating virus and/or viral RNA - potentially capable of being translated to produce viral proteins - persist in tissue as a "reservoir"
3/ Evidence for SARS-CoV-2 reservoir in Long COVID includes studies that have found SARS-CoV-2 RNA or protein in Long COVID tissue samples collected months after acute #COVID-19. Immune responses indicative of a SARS-CoV-2 reservoir have also been documented in #LongCovid