Mucosal Immunity

BackgroundData regarding symptoms in the lactating mother-infant dyad and their immune response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccination during lactation are needed to inform vaccination guidelines.MethodsFrom a prospective cohort of 50 lactating individuals who received mRNA-based vaccines for COVID-19...

A recent paper in the journal Frontiers in Immunology describes the demonstration of mucosal antibodies in breast milk that specifically target the virus.

Abstract The nose is the initial site of viral infection, replication, and transmission in the human body. Nasally inhaled vaccines may act as a promising alternative for COVID-19 management in add...

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are highly effective at preventing COVID-19. Prior studies have found detectable SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in oral mucosal specimens of participants with history of COVID-19. To assess the development of oral SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies among people who received either the...

In a recent study, researchers conducted a nasopharyngeal microbiota profiling parallelism in an effort to analyze microbiota variations in COVID-19 patients.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for effective prophylactic vaccination to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

SalivaDirect, an open-source protocol, avoids many of the supply bottlenecks of other tools and could be offered for as little as $10 a test.

SARS-CoV-2 infection induces strong type I IFN immunity in the nasopharyngeal cavity of mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients, but this response is compromised i...

Abstract: Without reliable measures of prevalence (viral circulation) and severity (the probability that infections lead to severe forms such as hospitalisation), the medium-term impact of viral…...

There are now several monoclonal antibodies, identical copies of a therapeutic antibody produced in large numbers, that are authorized for the treatment of COVID-19. But in the ongoing effort to beat this terrible pandemic, there’s plenty of room for continued improvements in treating infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

During the alveolar phase of COVID-19, the goals of treatment are to inhibit viral replication, to preserve type II cell survival and function, and to dampen the inflammatory response to maintain the architecture of the gas exchange units. Although endothelial cells are not likely to be direct targets of SARS-CoV-2, they are clearly damaged, thus treatments to prevent endothelial injury and microvascular thrombi are also very important. The two treatments that have been studied in detail are dexamethasone and anticytokine therapies. Corticosteroids are administered primarily to diminish tissue inflammation, but they also stimulate surfactant production in vivo and type II cells in vitro and induce structural maturation of the lung in the newborn.71–73 Dexamethasone is beneficial in hospitalised patients requiring mechanical ventilation or supplemental oxygen but not in those not requiring respiratory support.74 If a goal is to preserve injured type II cells, factors that stimulate cultured adult type II cells or organoids of type II cells in vitro should be considered. These factors include, but are not limited to, dexamethasone, cyclic Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cyclic AMP) (isobutylmethylxanthine, cholera toxin) and mitogenic growth factors (KGF, Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), Transforming growth factor alpha (TGFa)).48 71 75 However, stimulating type II cell proliferation may be detrimental by increasing the number of ACE2 expressing cells and thereby increasing viral replication, similar to what has been reported in mice treated with KGF prior to infection with influenza.76 Type II cells are also the primary target cell of influenza infection in the alveolar region.77 There have been many attempts to inhibit individual components of the resultant hyperinflammation (previously termed “cytokine storm”), but these therapies have only been partially successful. Baricitinib, an inhibitor of Janus kinase 1 and 2, blocks several cytokines elevated in COVID-19 and is promising in patients receiving high-flow oxygen or non-invasive ventilation.78 Tocilizumab and sarilumab are monoclonal antibodies that block the IL-6 receptor. In the recent open-label Randomised, Embedded, Multi-factorial Adaptive Platform Trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia with rapid enrollment of COVID-19 patients with ICU and greater than 80% receiving corticosteroids, tocilizumab and sarilumab increased respiratory and blood pressure support-free days to day 21 as well as survival and met the predefined criteria for efficacy.79 In an earlier standard controlled clinical trial prior to the widespread use of glucocorticoids, tocilizumab was not effective for preventing intubation or death in a cohort of moderately ill hospitalised patients with COVID-19.80 Rubin et al commented in an accompanying editorial on the differences in study design between the two trials and stressed the importance of context of the trials at different times in the COVID-19 pandemic both in terms of the concomitant use of glucocorticoids and in the evolving practice patterns in intensive care medicine for patients with COVID-19 .81

BackgroundLimited data are available regarding the balance of risks and benefits from human milk and/or breastfeeding during and following maternal infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).ObjectiveTo investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 can be detected in milk and on...

Severe COVID-19 pneumonia survivors often exhibit long-term pulmonary sequalae, but the underlying mechanisms or associated local and systemic immune correlates are not known. Here, we have perform...

Researchers have collaborated to resolve the aforementioned problems associated with injection vaccines to create a thermostable vaccine that can be taken orally.

Thai virologists at BIOTEC have 2 nasal spray options currently in development that may act as a substitute for Covid-19 vaccines in needle form.

Scientists from Germany and Italy recently demonstrated the benefits of intramuscular/intranasal heterologous prime-boost vaccination regimen against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to scale up around the world, costing severe health and economic losses.