Scientists identify targets for COVID-19 vaccine using cancer immunotherapy tools
Cancer researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have harnessed tools used for the development of cancer immunotherapies and adapted them to identify regions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to target with a vaccine, employing the same approach used to elicit an immune response against cancer cells to stimulate an immune response against the virus.
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Study identifies potential approach to treat patients with severe COVID-19
Early data from a clinical study suggest that blocking the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein provided clinical benefit to a small group of patients with severe COVID-19. Researchers observed that the off-label use of the cancer drug acalabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor that is approved to treat several blood cancers, was associated with reduced respiratory distress and a reduction in the overactive immune response in most of the treated patients.
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Scientists aim gene-targeting breakthrough against COVID-19
A team of scientists from Stanford University is working with researchers at the Molecular Foundry, a nanoscience user facility located at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), to develop a gene-targeting, antiviral agent against COVID-19.
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First do no harm - researchers urge halt in prescribing hydroxycholoroquine for COVID-19
The sacred oath taken by physicians during graduation from medical school to "First do no harm," the first words of the Hippocratic Oath, provides a strong impetus for a commentary just published in The American Journal of Medicine. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health are urging all health care providers to always prioritize compassion with reliable evidence on efficacy and safety.
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Study finds COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy safe, with 76% patients improving
The country's first convalescent plasma transfusion trial results have been peer-reviewed and published, showing 19 out of 25 patients improving with the treatment and 11 discharged from the hospital. On March 28, Houston Methodist became the first academic medical center in the nation to transfuse plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients into two critically ill patients.
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COVID-19 drug development could benefit from approach used against flu
A new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has found that some antivirals are useful for more than helping sick people get better - they also can prevent thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of virus cases if used in the early stages of infection.
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A roadmap for effective treatment of COVID-19
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.
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