The interaction of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike protein with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) mediates cell invasion. While this interaction mechanism is conserved, the RBD is affected by amino acid mutations in variants such as Delta and Omicron, resulting in enhanced transmissibility and altered ligand binding. Tanshinones are currently investigated as multi-target antiviral agents, but the studies were limited to the original SARS-CoV-2. This study aims at investigating the interaction of tanshinones with the Delta RBD. Chloroquine, methylene blue and pyronaridine, antimalarials previously identified as SARS-CoV-2 RBD binders, were studied for reference. Docking indicated the best scores for tanshinones, while bio-layer interferometry and molecular dynamics highlighted methylene blue as the best Delta RBD binder, although with decreased affinity with respect to the original strain.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2022.2057492 | DOI Listing |
ACS Biomater Sci Eng
January 2025
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, 161 Cathedral St., Glasgow G4 0RE,Scotland,U.K.
Silk has emerged as an interesting candidate among protein-based nanocarriers due to its favorable properties, including biocompatibility and a broad spectrum of processing options to tune particle critical quality attributes. The silk protein conformation during storage in the middle silk gland of the silkworm is modulated by various factors, including the most abundant metallic ion, calcium ion (Ca). Here, we report spiking of liquid silk with calcium ions to modulate the silk nanoparticle size.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Biotechnol (Singap)
February 2024
CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yueyang Road, Shanghai, 200030, China.
Pichia pastoris is a popular yeast host for high-level heterologous expression of proteins on an industrial scale owing to its reliable expression, robust growth, high fermentation density, and easy genetic manipulation and cultivation at a relatively low cost. Of particular interest is its high secretion efficiency for small proteins including insulin, human serum albumin, vaccines, enzymes, and llama-derived heavy-chain only antibodies (nanobodies) for pharmaceutical and research applications. However, a recurring challenge in using P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransplantation
January 2025
Department of Hepatogastroenterology, Edouard Herriot University Hospital, University Lyon-1, Lyon, France.
Background: It remains unclear whether physicians should accept transplantation offers for candidates with a positive SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test due to the potential risk of severe infection after initiating immunosuppressive therapy.
Methods: A multicenter observational study was conducted in 19 French solid organ transplantation units. Patients on the waiting list for liver or kidney transplants who had a positive SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction nasopharyngeal swab at the time of transplantation were recorded.
BMC Genomics
January 2025
Department of Virology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, 0456, Norway.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of virus surveillance in public health and wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a non-invasive, cost-effective method for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 and its variants at the community level. Unfortunately, current variant surveillance methods depend heavily on updated genomic databases with data derived from clinical samples, which can become less sensitive and representative as clinical testing and sequencing efforts decline.In this paper, we introduce HERCULES (High-throughput Epidemiological Reconstruction and Clustering for Uncovering Lineages from Environmental SARS-CoV-2), an unsupervised method that uses long-read sequencing of a single 1 Kb fragment of the Spike gene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNature
January 2025
Department of Mathematics & Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Since the onset of the pandemic, many SARS-CoV-2 variants have emerged, exhibiting substantial evolution in the virus' spike protein, the main target of neutralizing antibodies. A plausible hypothesis proposes that the virus evolves to evade antibody-mediated neutralization (vaccine- or infection-induced) to maximize its ability to infect an immunologically experienced population. Because viral infection induces neutralizing antibodies, viral evolution may thus navigate on a dynamic immune landscape that is shaped by local infection history.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!