Sunday, May 31, 2020

New Study Outlines a Roadmap for Effective Treatment of COVID-19

Adapted From scitechnews

By Frontiers on 

Coronavirus COVID-19 Roadmap

Study outlines key immunological factors underlying COVID-19 disease progression and proposes a range of drugs that may be repurposed to treat the disease.

Due to the devastating worldwide impact of COVID-19, the illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, there has been unprecedented efforts by clinicians and researchers from around the world to quickly develop safe and effective treatments and vaccines. Given that COVID-19 is a complex new disease with no existing vaccine or specific treatment, much effort is being made to investigate the repurposing of approved and available drugs, as well as those under development.

In Frontiers in Immunology, a team of researchers from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration review all of the COVID-19 clinical and research findings to date. They provide a breakdown of key immunological factors underlying the clinical stages of COVID-19 illness that could potentially be targeted by existing therapeutic drugs.

Dr. Montserrat Puig of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, senior author of the review, stated that “there are multiple factors involved in determining if the patient’s immune response will be insufficient or successful in combating the infection. Our review is an overview of these factors and how they can be considered to define the context in which medications currently used for other diseases, or development of novel agents, can be utilized to prevent, ameliorate or cure COVID-19.”

We know that during the early stage of COVID-19 people can show no symptoms or mild symptoms, and for many the disease resolves.

For others it can be catastrophic. The illness can progress to a severe stage with manifestations including Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, accompanied by severe lung inflammation and damage. Patients with severe COVID-19 are often admitted to intensive care units and require life support with medical ventilation.

This review compiles and summarizes published up-to-date studies unraveling the factors leading to the cytokine storm and its consequences observed in COVID-19, including the immunological events underlying the severe manifestation of the disease.

The analysis is further supplemented with knowledge previously acquired from other coronaviruses including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.

The authors underscore key immunological events that might tip the balance from a protective to a hyperinflammatory response leading to life-threatening conditions. They outline a promising list of currently available drugs that are either under study or under consideration for use in COVID-19 based on their potential to influence these key immunological events.

These drugs include those that could inhibit SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells, antivirals with the potential to block SARS-CoV-2 replication or factors that could boost the antiviral response, monoclonal antibodies targeting pro-inflammatory cytokines that drive the hyperinflammatory response and therapeutics that could improve the function of the lungs.

Puig states that “approaches to therapy in the early stage of the disease will differ from those in its severe late stage.” Adding that “as the results of clinical trials become available, it may become increasingly clear that there is likely no single magic bullet to resolve the disease but a combination of several interventions that target different key factors of COVID-19 may well be required.”

Puig cautions that “the research and data obtained from COVID-19 studies are rapidly evolving and continuously updated. Thus, as clearly stated in our review, the information provided is a ‘lessons learned’ to date and describes the knowledge available at the time of the publication of the review.”

The description of the immunological profile of the clinical stages of COVID-19 provided in this review will enable more informed decisions about the type and timing of treatments to be evaluated in clinical trials.

Puig explains that “our hope is that the information contained in our review will help professionals in COVID-19 research develop new tools and agents to better treat those at high risk of severe COVID-19.”

Reference: “Lessons learned to date on COVID-19 hyperinflammatory syndrome: considerations for interventions to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 viral infection and detrimental hyperinflammation” by Marco Cardone, Masahide Yano, Amy S. Rosenberg and Montserrat Puig, 29 May 2020, ,Frontiers in Immunology.
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01131

COVID-19FrontiersImmunologyInfectious DiseasesPopularPublic Health
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Thursday, May 28, 2020

New database reveals plants' secret relationships with fungi


Credit: CC0 Public Domain
Leiden University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Leiden researchers have compiled information collected by scientists over the past 120 years into a database of plant-fungal interactions. This important biological data is now freely available for researchers and nature conservationists. Publication in New Phytologist.

Almost all  have a relationship with a fungus in their roots that allow them to obtain nutrients from the soil. This relationship, called mycorrhiza, is symbiotic, since the fungi too benefit from it. It is so important that most  would not be able survive without it.

Until now, information on this  has been scattered throughout myriad scientific publications. A new database of fungal interactions, available via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the PlutoF biodiversity data management platform, combines all knowledge into a single source and allows scientists to acquire a new understanding of the importance of the relationship between plants and soil fungi.

Fundamental aspect of plant life

Root fungi not only help plants to obtain nutrients from the soil, but the types of mycorrhiza available and their abundance in  can have a large influence on plant life in general. Research has shown that types and intensity of mycorrhiza in an ecosystem can drastically affect plant biodiversity. Studies have even shown that  can influence how much carbon an ecosystem can store in the soil.

Ecologist Nadia Soudzilovskia (CML), the leader of the scientific group that compiled the database, stresses the importance of understanding the relationships between plants and fungi: "It is the oldest symbiotic relationship on the planet. Only in the past two decades have we begun to understand the true importance of mycorrhiza. This new database allows us to see the forest for the trees. Combining all extant knowledge will allow us to understand the role of mycorrhizal symbiosis in ecosystems."

Growing database

Using the new database, researchers will be able to couple a plant with a specific type of mycorrhizal relation with fungi. Soudzilovskia: "It was a lot of work to compile the database. We had to pour over decades of research and locate any errors in previous papers. When we found conflicting data, we had to decide whether it was an error or a new identification."

The database does not currently encompass all plants in the world but offers the option for researchers to add new data. Soudzilovskia: "The plants in the database constitute a large part of the Earth's biomass, but adding more data is important. The database has the option for scientists and other experts to add new data and to leave comments on whether current assessments are correct. We aim to be very transparent."

Besides information on which  interact with which specific fungus, the  also has metadata on soil, climate and location of entries, allowing researchers to cross reference information quickly and easily.

More information: Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia et al. FungalRoot: global online database of plant mycorrhizal associations, New Phytologist (2020). DOI: 10.1111/nph.16569

Journal information: New Phytologist

Provided by Leiden University

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Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Microbiome rewilding: Biodiverse urban green spaces strengthen human immune systems

Credit: Jacob Mills

This research was posted by W.O.W 


University of Adelaide

Credit: Jacob Mills

A research team led by the University of Adelaide has found that revegetation of green spaces within cities can improve soil microbiota diversity towards a more natural, biodiverse state, which has been linked to human health benefits.

In the study, published in the journal Restoration Ecology, researchers compared the composition of a variety of urban green  vegetation types of varying levels of vegetation diversity, including lawns, vacant lots, parklands, revegetated woodlands and remnant woodlands within the City of Playford Council area in South Australia.

The purpose of the research was to understand whether it is possible to restore the microbiome of urban green spaces, a process known as microbiome rewilding. It is believed this process could expose us to a greater variety and number of microbiota (organisms living within a specific environment) and provide a form of immune system training and regulation.

Lead author of the journal paper, Ph.D. Candidate Jacob Mills from the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences and Environment Institute, says historically humans lived in more rural and wild landscapes, and children spent more of their childhood outdoors, allowing exposure to more microbes.

"Urbanisation has radically changed our childhoods. More time spent indoors, poor quality diets and less exposure to wild environments has led to significant increases in  such as poorer respiratory health," says Jacob.

"Exposure to biodiverse natural environments carries ecological benefits—green spaces with higher eco-system function give children better exposure to pick things up from , for example, there are microbial compounds in soil that reduce stress and anxiety.

"Put simply, the more diversity in microbiota that children are exposed to the healthier they will grow up," he said.

The research found that the revegetated and remnant woodlands examined comprised more  than other green spaces such as lawns and vacant lots, and had greater diversity of microbiota.

Furthermore the soil microbiotas in revegetated urban green spaces were similar to those found in remnant woodlands, and differed greatly from lawns and , which had lower microbiota diversity.

"This indicates that the revegetated woodlands soil microbiome had somewhat recovered to its previous more natural biodiverse state," says Jacob.

"Plant species richness, soil pH and electrical conductivity were the main variables for microbial communities in our study, the more diverse the soil biodiversity the better the eco-system function. Urban spaces low in microbial diversity tend to be more conducive to pathogens and pests, also known as microbial 'weeds.'"

"Increasing plant species diversity is important for the structure of microbial communities and increases eco-system function," he says.

Jacob says the findings of the study has implications for urban design, landscape architecture and councils.

"Our study provides a footing for urban planners and designers to place the environmental microbiome and access to diverse green spaces in their design principles when developing and rejuvenating urban areas.

"Greater biodiversity comes with the potential to reduce non-communicable disease rates through improved training of our immune systems to fight illness and disease.

"It could be implemented as a potential preventative health measure, particularly beneficial for lower socio-economic areas and could lessen the burden on our health systems."

The study is believed to provide the first evidence that revegetation can improve urban soil   towards a more natural, biodiverse state by creating more wild habitat conditions. This evidence supports initiating further studies within the growing field of microbiome rewilding.

"We hope that this work will inspire further research to understand and measure the impact of microbiome rewilding on human health," Jacob says.

More information: Jacob G. Mills et al. Revegetation of urban green space rewilds soil microbiotas with implications for human health and urban design, Restoration Ecology (2020). DOI: 10.1111/rec.13175

Provided by University of Adelaide

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