Production of high-quality SARS-CoV-2 antigens: Impact of bioprocess and storage on glycosylation, biophysical attributes, and ELISA serologic tests performance.

Serological assays are valuable tools to study SARS-CoV-2 spread and, importantly, to identify individuals that were already infected and would be potentially immune to a virus reinfection. SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and its receptor binding domain (RBD) are the antigens with higher potential to develop SARS-CoV-2 serological assays. Moreover, structural studies of these antigens are key to understand the molecular basis for Spike interaction with angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptor, hopefully enabling the development of COVID-19 therapeutics.

Polymorphisms in the IL2RA and IL2RB genes in inflammatory bowel disease risk.

Associations with different autoimmune diseases of polymorphisms in genes encoding the IL2RA and IL2RB subunits (located in 10p15 and 22q13, respectively), were identified through genome-wide studies. Polymorphisms in these two genes were studied in 107 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients (39 Crohn's disease [CD] and 68 ulcerative colitis [UC]) and in 162 ethnically healthy controls from Tunisia (Sfax). Two of the 15 IL2RA single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped (rs4749924 and rs706778) were significantly associated with UC (pcorr=0.

Pathology affects different organs in two mouse strains chronically infected by a Trypanosoma cruzi clone: a model for genetic studies of Chagas' disease.

Chagas' disease is a chronic infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and represents an important public health burden in Latin America. Frequently the disease evolves undetectable for decades, while in a significant fraction of the affected individuals it culminates in death by heart failure. Here, we describe a novel murine model of the chronic infection with T.