Nicotine exhibits 6.6-fold stronger binding for ACE2 in the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, and reduces the binding affinity of the spike protein for the ACE2 receptor.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
The effects of nicotine on increasing antibody binding affinity to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in competition with ACE2 should also be explored.
With new variants exhibiting even stronger ACE2 binding than the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, and while coupling these findings to the decreased binding affinity of neutralizing antibodies to some of the new strains, nicotine may end up serving an immune-enhancing purpose.
While these results should be interpreted cautiously until clinical validation is generated, the structural biology and thermodynamics of binding suggest that this mechanism of action will be helpful therapeutically.
Certainly, please do not interpret this post as a suggestion to pick up smoking, as tobacco has many other deleterious effects both systemically and on the pulmonary system. Still, from a mechanistic standpoint, nicotine patches / gums / sublingual tabs may improve outcomes.
Clinical studies on the efficacy of nicotine patches in preventing COVID-19 infection are ongoing in France: clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04…
The IBM Summit supercomputing studies last year also predicted a number of compounds that reduce binding affinity of ACE2 and the spike protein. Quercetin was one of the top hits.

chemrxiv.org/articles/prepr…

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More from @nanogenomic

27 Apr
An analysis of 96,057 COVID-19 cases among a ~1.5 million population between March and December of 2020 found a 50% increase in cases during days of low wind speed (<5.5mph) than on days of high wind speed (>5.5mph).
This is an argument for mask wearing.

medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
It will be good to see more data that accounts for individual time spent outdoors versus indoors over the course of a week or two, and integrating contact tracing data and the like. And, creating better assays in outdoor environments to simulate breathing and exposure thresholds.
In the above study, they adjusted an 8-day moving average case count to account for lag between infection and presentation of symptoms.
Read 4 tweets
27 Apr
Some research on changes in neutralizing antibody potency of some SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC): namely, 1) E484K, 2) N501Y, 3) ∆69/70 + N501Y + D614G, and 4) E484K + N501Y + D614G. Out of these VOCs, E484K mutants are showing greatest escape potency for vaccinated serum.
E484K:
"SARS-CoV-2 spike E484K mutation reduces antibody neutralisation"
thelancet.com/journals/lanmi…
N501Y:
"The N501Y mutation in SARS-CoV-2 spike leads to morbidity in obese and aged mice and is neutralized by convalescent and post-vaccination human sera"
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
Read 18 tweets
27 Apr
Recalling a conversation with a successful biotech founder who had raised several hundred million with 2x exits, asking what I can do to move things forward faster. He told me to stop and smell the roses.

Good reminder that working more doesn’t always make things move faster.
Certainly, the founder mindset should be “what else can I do,” and setting up to do the critical things at superhuman speeds. At the same time, especially when it is a long game, the clarity of silence and resetting your mind can lead to hyper-productive, time-saving insights.
“[W]e've come to believe that world-class performance comes after 10,000 hours of practice. But that's wrong. It comes after 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, 12,500 hours of deliberate rest, and 30,000 hours of sleep.”

theweek.com/articles/69664…
Read 6 tweets
16 Apr
Compiling some research on risk of antibody-dependent enhancement (#ADE)...

It's important to emphasize that this does not reflect support of vaccine hesitance, and that the data on vaccine efficacy is extremely good.

[Thread on recent scientific articles to keep in mind...]
It would be good to include broader antibody panels separating "good" neutralizing antibodies from potentially deleterious antibodies and correlating this to strain emergence... the concern is not just the neutralizing sites at the ACE2-binding interface and "good" antibodies.
While the public health benefit of vaccines is huge, and COVID is orders of several magnitude more dangerous to older populations than vaccination, we should remain vigilant about these potential issues emerging over time, and preempt the problem with better immunomodulators.
Read 17 tweets
15 Apr
Phenomenal paper from the @jbloom_lab exploring neutralization by antibodies from recovered versus vaccinated individuals and examining all possible mutations at the receptor binding motifa—the portion that binds to ACE2–of the virus.
Using yeast display technology, where the yeast fluoresces, they expressed a few thousand mutant versions of the spike protein receptor binding domain and exposed each mutant to serum from convalescent vs. vaccinated individuals.
They then took key mutants and infected ACE2-expressing cells with pseudotyped lentiviruses producing each key receptor binding domain.
Read 13 tweets
6 Jan
THREAD
“Most people who recover from COVID-19 develop immune memory that lasts for at least six to eight months, a NIAID-funded study suggests. The findings, published today in Science, are based on analysis of blood samples from 188 people who recovered from infection.” - NIAID
“Neutralizing antibodies have generally not correlated with lessened COVID-19 disease severity... Instead, neutralizing antibodies are associated with protective immunity against secondary infection with SARS-CoV-2.”

science.sciencemag.org/content/early/…
“While sterilizing immunity against viruses can only be accomplished by high-titer neutralizing antibodies, successful protection against clinical disease or death can be accomplished by several other immune memory scenarios.”
Read 20 tweets

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