Exploring the naturally acquired response to Pvs47 gametocyte antigen.

Malaria represents a challenging global public health task, with Plasmodium vivax being the predominant parasite in Brazil and the most widely distributed species throughout the world. Developing a vaccine against P. vivax malaria demands innovative strategies, and targeting gametocyte antigens shows promise for blocking transmission prevention. Among these antigens, Pvs47, expressed in gametocytes, has shown remarkable efficacy in transmission blocking. However, remains underexplored in vaccine formulations. This study employed in silico methods to comprehensively characterize the physicochemical properties, structural attributes, epitope presence, and conservation profile of Pvs47. Additionally, we assessed its antigenicity in individuals exposed to malaria in endemic Brazilian regions. Recombinant protein expression occurred in a eukaryotic system, and antigenicity was evaluated using immunoenzymatic assays. The responses of naturally acquired IgM, total IgG, and IgG subclasses were analyzed in three groups of samples from Amazon region. Notably, all samples exhibited anti-Pvs47 IgM and IgG antibodies, with IgG3 predominating. Asymptomatic patients demonstrated stronger IgG responses and more diverse subclass responses. Anti-Pvs47 IgM and IgG responses in symptomatic individuals decrease over time. Furthermore, we observed a negative correlation between anti-Pvs47 IgM response and gametocytemia in samples of symptomatic patients, indicating a gametocyte-specific response. Additionally, negative correlation was observed among anti-Pvs47 antibody response and hematocrit levels. Furthermore, comparative analysis with widely characterized blood antigens, PvAMA1 and PvMSP119, revealed that Pvs47 was equally or more recognized than both proteins. In addition, there is positive correlation between P. vivax blood asexual and sexual stage immune responses. In summary, our study unveils a significant prevalence of anti-Pvs47 antibodies in diverse Amazonian samples and the importance of IgM response for gametocytes depuration. These findings regarding the in silico characterization and antigenicity of Pvs47 provide crucial insights for potential integration into P. vivax vaccine formulations.

A spatially resolved single-cell lung atlas integrated with clinical and blood signatures distinguishes COVID-19 disease trajectories.

COVID-19 is characterized by a broad range of symptoms and disease trajectories. Understanding the correlation between clinical biomarkers and lung pathology during acute COVID-19 is necessary to understand its diverse pathogenesis and inform more effective treatments. Here, we present an integrated analysis of longitudinal clinical parameters, peripheral blood markers, and lung pathology in 142 Brazilian patients hospitalized with COVID-19. We identified core clinical and peripheral blood signatures differentiating disease progression between patients who recovered from severe disease compared with those who succumbed to the disease. Signatures were heterogeneous among fatal cases yet clustered into two patient groups: "early death" (<15 days until death) and "late death" (>15 days). Progression to early death was characterized systemically and in lung histopathological samples by rapid endothelial and myeloid activation and the presence of thrombi associated with SARS-CoV-2+ macrophages. In contrast, progression to late death was associated with fibrosis, apoptosis, and SARS-CoV-2+ epithelial cells in postmortem lung tissue. In late death cases, cytotoxicity, interferon, and T helper 17 (TH17) signatures were only detectable in the peripheral blood after 2 weeks of hospitalization. Progression to recovery was associated with higher lymphocyte counts, TH2 responses, and anti-inflammatory-mediated responses. By integrating antemortem longitudinal blood signatures and spatial single-cell lung signatures from postmortem lung samples, we defined clinical parameters that could be used to help predict COVID-19 outcomes.

Multicenter study of the natural history and therapeutic responses of patients with chikungunya, focusing on acute and chronic musculoskeletal manifestations - a study protocol from the clinical and applied research in Chikungunya (REPLICK network).

BACKGROUND: Chikungunya is associated with high morbidity and the natural history of symptomatic infection has been divided into three phases (acute, post-acute, and chronic) according to the duration of musculoskeletal symptoms. Although this classification has been designed to help guide therapeutic decisions, it does not encompass the complexity of the clinical expression of the disease and does not assist in the evaluation of the prognosis of severity nor chronic disease. Thus, the current challenge is to identify and diagnose musculoskeletal disorders and to provide the optimal treatment in order to prevent perpetuation or progression to a potentially destructive disease course. METHODS: The study is the first product of the Clinical and Applied Research Network in Chikungunya (REPLICK). This is a prospective, outpatient department-based, multicenter cohort study in Brazil. Four work packages were defined: i. Clinical research; ii) Translational Science - comprising immunology and virology streams; iii) Epidemiology and Economics; iv) Therapeutic Response and clinical trials design. Scheduled appointments on days 21 (D21) ± 7 after enrollment, D90 ± 15, D120 ± 30, D180 ± 30; D360 ± 30; D720 ± 60, and D1080 ± 60 days. On these visits a panel of blood tests are collected in addition to the clinical report forms to obtain data on socio-demographic, medical history, physical examination and questionnaires devoted to the evaluation of musculoskeletal manifestations and overall health are performed. Participants are asked to consent for their specimens to be maintained in a biobank. Aliquots of blood, serum, saliva, PAXgene, and when clinically indicated to be examined, synovial fluid, are stored at -80° C. The study protocol was submitted and approved to the National IRB and local IRB at each study site. DISCUSSION: Standardized and harmonized patient cohorts are needed to provide better estimates of chronic arthralgia development, the clinical spectra of acute and chronic disease and investigation of associated risk factors. This study is the largest evaluation of the long-term sequelae of individuals infected with CHIKV in the Brazilian population focusing on musculoskeletal manifestations, mental health, quality of life, and chronic pain. This information will both define disease burden and costs associated with CHIKV infection, and better inform therapeutic guidelines.

Association of Ang/Tie2 pathway mediators with endothelial barrier integrity and disease severity in COVID-19.

Endothelial barrier (EB) disruption contributes to acute lung injury in COVID-19, and levels of both VEGF-A and Ang-2, which are mediators of EB integrity, have been associated with COVID-19 severity. Here we explored the participation of additional mediators of barrier integrity in this process, as well as the potential of serum from COVID-19 patients to induce EB disruption in cell monolayers. In a cohort from a clinical trial consisting of thirty patients with COVID-19 that required hospital admission due to hypoxia we demonstrate that i) levels of soluble Tie2 were increase, and of soluble VE-cadherin were decreased when compared to healthy individuals; ii) sera from these patients induce barrier disruption in monolayers of endothelial cells; and iii) that the magnitude of this effect is proportional to disease severity and to circulating levels of VEGF-A and Ang-2. Our study confirms and extends previous findings on the pathogenesis of acute lung injury in COVID-19, reinforcing the concept that EB is a relevant component of this disease. Our results pave the way for future studies that can refine our understanding of the pathogenesis of acute lung injury in viral respiratory disorders, and contribute to the identification of new biomarkers and therapeutic targets for these conditions.

Computational and Experimental Approaches Identify Beta-Blockers as Potential SARS-CoV-2 Spike Inhibitors.

Finding antivirals for SARS-CoV-2 is still a major challenge, and many computational and experimental approaches have been employed to find a solution to this problem. While the global vaccination campaigns are the primary driver of controlling the current pandemic, orally bioavailable small-molecule drugs and biologics are critical to overcome this global issue. Improved therapeutics and prophylactics are required to treat people with circulating and emerging new variants, addressing severe infection, and people with underlying or immunocompromised conditions. The SARS-CoV-2 envelope spike is a challenging target for viral entry inhibitors. Pindolol presented a good docking score in a previous virtual screening using computational docking calculations after screening a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug library of 2400 molecules as potential candidates to block the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein interaction with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2). Here, we expanded the computational evaluation to identify five beta-blockers against SARS-CoV-2 using several techniques, such as microscale thermophoresis, NanoDSF, and in vitro assays in different cell lines. These data identified carvedilol with a K d of 364 ± 22 nM for the SARS-CoV-2 spike and in vitro activity (EC50 of 7.57 µM, CC50 of 18.07 µM) against SARS-CoV-2 in Calu-3 cells. We have shown how we can apply multiple computational and experimental approaches to find molecules that can be further optimized to improve anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity.

Update and elucidation of Plasmodium kinomes: Prioritization of kinases as potential drug targets for malaria.

Malaria is a tropical disease caused by Plasmodium spp. and transmitted by the bite of infected Anopheles mosquitoes. Protein kinases (PKs) play key roles in the life cycle of the etiological agent of malaria, turning these proteins attractive targets for antimalarial drug discovery campaigns. As part of an effort to understand parasite signaling functions, we report the results of a bioinformatics pipeline analysis of PKs of eight Plasmodium species. To date, no P. malariae and P. ovale kinome assemble has been conducted. We classified, curated and annotated predicted kinases to update P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. yoelii, P. berghei, P. chabaudi, and P. knowlesi kinomes published to date, as well as report for the first time the kinomes of P. malariae and P. ovale. Overall, from 76 to 97 PKs were identified among all Plasmodium spp. kinomes. Most of the kinases were assigned to seven of nine major kinase groups: AGC, CAMK, CMGC, CK1, STE, TKL, OTHER; and the Plasmodium-specific group FIKK. About 30% of kinases have been deeply classified into group, family and subfamily levels and only about 10% remained unclassified. Furthermore, updating and comparing the kinomes of P. vivax and P. falciparum allowed for the prioritization and selection of kinases as potential drug targets that could be explored for discovering new drugs against malaria. This integrated approach resulted in the selection of 37 protein kinases as potential targets and the identification of investigational compounds with moderate in vitro activity against asexual P. falciparum (3D7 and Dd2 strains) stages that could serve as starting points for the search of potent antimalarial leads in the future.

Short-Course of Methylprednisolone Improves Respiratory Functional Parameters After 120 Days in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients (Metcovid Trial): A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: The use of corticosteroids may help control the cytokine storm occurring in acute respiratory failure due to the severe form of COVID-19. We evaluated the postacute effect of corticosteroids used during the acute phase, such as impairment in pulmonary function parameters, on day 120 (D120)-follow-up, in participants who survived over 28 days. Methods: This is a parallel, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase IIb clinical trial carried out between April 18 and October 9, 2020, conducted in hospitalized patients with clinical-radiological suspicion of COVID-19, aged 18 years or older, with SpO2 ≤ 94% on room air or requiring supplementary oxygen, or under invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in a referral center in Manaus, Western Brazilian Amazon. Intravenous methylprednisolone (MP) (0.5 mg/kg) was given two times daily for 5 days to these patients. The primary outcome used for this study was pulmonary function testing at day 120 follow-up visit. Results: Out of the total of surviving patients at day 28 (n = 246) from the Metcovid study, a total of 118 underwent satisfactory pulmonary function testing (62 in the placebo arm and 56 in the MP arm). The supportive treatment was similar between the placebo and MP groups (seven [11%] vs. four [7%]; P = 0.45). At hospital admission, IL-6 levels were higher in the MP group (P < 0.01). Also, the need for ICU (P = 0.06), need for IMV (P = 0.07), and creatine kinase (P = 0.05) on admission also tended to be higher in this group. In the univariate analysis, forced expiratory volume on 1st second of exhalation (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) at D120 follow-up were significantly higher in patients in the MP arm, being this last parameter also significantly higher in the multivariate analysis independently of IMV and IL-6 levels on admission. Conclusion: The use of steroids for at least 5 days in severe COVID-19 was associated with a higher FVC, which suggests that hospitalized COVID-19 patients might benefit from the use of MP in its use in the long-term, with less pulmonary restrictive functions, attributed to fibrosis. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT04343729.

Machine Learning Models Identify Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2.

With the rapidly evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, there is an urgent need for the discovery of further treatments for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Drug repurposing is one of the most rapid strategies for addressing this need, and numerous compounds have already been selected for in vitro testing by several groups. These have led to a growing database of molecules with in vitro activity against the virus. Machine learning models can assist drug discovery through prediction of the best compounds based on previously published data. Herein, we have implemented several machine learning methods to develop predictive models from recent SARS-CoV-2 in vitro inhibition data and used them to prioritize additional FDA-approved compounds for in vitro testing selected from our in-house compound library. From the compounds predicted with a Bayesian machine learning model, lumefantrine, an antimalarial was selected for testing and showed limited antiviral activity in cell-based assays while demonstrating binding (Kd 259 nM) to the spike protein using microscale thermophoresis. Several other compounds which we prioritized have since been tested by others and were also found to be active in vitro. This combined machine learning and in vitro testing approach can be expanded to virtually screen available molecules with predicted activity against SARS-CoV-2 reference WIV04 strain and circulating variants of concern. In the process of this work, we have created multiple iterations of machine learning models that can be used as a prioritization tool for SARS-CoV-2 antiviral drug discovery programs. The very latest model for SARS-CoV-2 with over 500 compounds is now freely available at www.assaycentral.org.

Plasmodium vivax Gametocytes Adherence to Bone Marrow Endothelial Cells.

In a Plasmodium vivax infection, it was shown a proportionally increased on gametocyte distribution within the bone marrow aspirant, suggesting a role of this organ as a reservoir for this parasite stage. Here, we evaluated the ex vivo cytoadhesive capacity of P. vivax gametocytes to bone marrow endothelial cells (HBMEC) and investigated the involvement of some receptors in the cytoadhesion process by using transfected CHO cells (CHO-ICAM1, CHO-CD36 and CHO-VCAM), wild type (CHO-K1) or deficient in heparan and chondroitin sulfate (CHO-745). Ex-vivo cytoadhesion assays were performed using a total of 44 P. vivax isolates enriched in gametocyte stages by Percoll gradient in the different cell lines. The majority of isolates (88.9%) were able to adhere to HBMEC monolayer. ICAM1 seemed to be the sole receptor significantly involved. CD-36 was the receptor with higher adhesion rate, despite no significance was noticed when compared to CHO-745. We demonstrated that gametocyte P. vivax adheres ex vivo to bone marrow endothelial cells. Moreover, P. vivax gametocytes display the ability to adhere to all CHO cells investigated, especially to CHO-ICAM1. These findings bring insights to the comprehension of the role of the bone marrow as a P. vivax reservoir and the potential impact on parasite transmission to the vector.

Artemether and lumefantrine dissolving microneedle patches with improved pharmacokinetic performance and antimalarial efficacy in mice infected with Plasmodium yoelii.

Malaria affects more than 200 million people annually around the world, killing a child every 2 min. Artemether (ART) and lumefantrine (LUM) are the gold standard choice to treat uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria; however, they are hydrophobic compounds with low oral bioavailability. Microneedle (MN) arrays consist of micron-sized needles on one side of a supporting base and have the ability to bypass the skin's stratum corneum barrier in a minimally invasive way, creating temporary channels through which drugs can diffuse, including those with poor water solubility. Herein, we report the development of dissolving MNs (DMNs) containing ART (MN-ART) and LUM (MN-LUM) as an alternative treatment regimen for malaria in low-resource settings. To incorporate the drugs into the MNs, nanosuspensions (NSs) for both molecules were developed separately to enhance drug solubility. The NSs were freeze-dried and the powder form was incorporated directly in an aqueous polymeric blend with poly-vinyl-pyrrolidone for MN-ART and a sodium hyaluronate hydrogel for MN-LUM. The in vivo bioavailability studies were performed using a MN reapplication scheme (1 × a day for 3 days), illustrating that an extended-release profile was achieved for both drugs when MNs were applied intradermally, and when compared to conventional oral treatment. The ART-LUM oral treatment was used as a positive control. For antimalarial activity, studies with animals infected with 106Plasmodium yoelii 17XNL (12 days) were also conducted using female C57BL/6JUnib mice, demonstrating a 99.5% reduction in parasitemia by day 12 post-infection. By abolishing the infection, MN-ART and MN-LUM may serve as a promising controlled intradermal delivery device for antimalarial drugs to be explored in endemic areas.

QSAR-Based Virtual Screening of Natural Products Database for Identification of Potent Antimalarial Hits.

With about 400,000 annual deaths worldwide, malaria remains a public health burden in tropical and subtropical areas, especially in low-income countries. Selection of drug-resistant Plasmodium strains has driven the need to explore novel antimalarial compounds with diverse modes of action. In this context, biodiversity has been widely exploited as a resourceful channel of biologically active compounds, as exemplified by antimalarial drugs such as quinine and artemisinin, derived from natural products. Thus, combining a natural product library and quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR)-based virtual screening, we have prioritized genuine and derivative natural compounds with potential antimalarial activity prior to in vitro testing. Experimental validation against cultured chloroquine-sensitive and multi-drug-resistant P. falciparum strains confirmed the potent and selective activity of two sesquiterpene lactones (LDT-597 and LDT-598) identified in silico. Quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models predicted absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) and physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) parameters for the most promising compound, showing that it presents good physiologically based pharmacokinetic properties both in rats and humans. Altogether, the in vitro parasite growth inhibition results obtained from in silico screened compounds encourage the use of virtual screening campaigns for identification of promising natural compound-based antimalarial molecules.

Chemogenomics and bioinformatics approaches for prioritizing kinases as drug targets for neglected tropical diseases.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of twenty-one diseases classified by the World Health Organization that prevail in regions with tropical and subtropical climate and affect more than one billion people. There is an urgent need to develop new and safer drugs for these diseases. Protein kinases are a potential class of targets for developing new drugs against NTDs, since they play crucial role in many biological processes, such as signaling pathways, regulating cellular communication, division, metabolism and death. Bioinformatics is a field that aims to organize large amounts of biological data as well as develop and use tools for understanding and analyze them in order to produce meaningful information in a biological manner. In combination with chemogenomics, which analyzes chemical-biological interactions to screen ligands against selected targets families, these approaches can be used to stablish a rational strategy for prioritizing new drug targets for NTDs. Here, we describe how bioinformatics and chemogenomics tools can help to identify protein kinases and their potential inhibitors for the development of new drugs for NTDs. We present a review of bioinformatics tools and techniques that can be used to define an organisms kinome for drug prioritization, drug and target repurposing, multi-quinase inhibition approachs and selectivity profiling. We also present some successful examples of the application of such approaches in recent case studies.

Targeting malaria protein kinases.

Malaria is one of the most impacting public health problems in tropical and subtropical areas of the globe, with approximately 200 million cases worldwide annually. In the absence of an effective vaccine, rapid treatment is vital for effective malaria control. However, parasite resistance to currently available drugs underscores the urgent need for identifying new antimalarial therapies with new mechanisms of action. Among potential drug targets for developing new antimalarial candidates, protein kinases are attractive. These enzymes catalyze the phosphorylation of several proteins, thereby regulating a variety of cellular processes and playing crucial roles in the development of all stages of the malaria parasite life cycle. Moreover, the large phylogenetic distance between Plasmodium species and its human host is reflected in marked differences in structure and function of malaria protein kinases between the homologs of both species, indicating that selectivity can be attained. In this review, we describe the functions of the different types of Plasmodium kinases and highlight the main recent advances in the discovery of kinase inhibitors as potential new antimalarial drug candidates.

Yeast-based high-throughput screens for discovery of kinase inhibitors for neglected diseases.

The discovery and development of a new drug is a complex, time consuming and costly process that typically takes over 10 years and costs around 1 billion dollars from bench to market. This scenario makes the discovery of novel drugs targeting neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which afflict in particular people in low-income countries, prohibitive. Despite the intensive use of High-Throughput Screening (HTS) in the past decades, the speed with which new drugs come to the market has remained constant, generating doubts about the efficacy of this approach. Here we review a few of the yeast-based high-throughput approaches that can work synergistically with parasite-based, in vitro, or in silico methods to identify and optimize novel antiparasitic compounds. These yeast-based methods range from HTP screens to identify novel hits against promising parasite kinase targets to the identification of potential antiparasitic kinase inhibitors extracted from databases of yeast chemical genetic screens.

Transmission-blocking compound candidates against Plasmodium vivax using P. berghei as an initial screening.

BACKGROUND: Different strategies for improvement of malaria control and elimination are based on the blockage of malaria parasite transmission to the mosquito vector. These strategies include the drugs that target the plasmodial sexual stages in humans and the early developmental stages inside mosquitoes. OBJECTIVES: Here we tested Malaria Box compounds in order to evaluate their activity against male and female gametocytes in Plasmodium berghei, mosquito infection in P. vivax and ookinete formation in both species. METHODS/FINDINGS: The membrane feeding assay and the development of ookinetes by a 24 h ex vivo culture and the ookinete yield per 1000 erythrocytes were used to test transmission-blocking potential of the Malaria Box compounds in P. vivax. For P. berghei we used flow cytometry to evaluate male and female gametocyte time course and fluorescence microscopy to check the ookinete development. The two species used in this study showed similar results concerning the compounds' activity against gametocytes and ookinetes, which were different from those in P. falciparum. In addition, from the eight Malaria Box compounds tested in both species, compounds MMV665830, MMV665878 and MMV665941 were selected as a hit compounds due the high inhibition observed. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that P. berghei is suitable as an initial screening system to test compounds against P. vivax.

Events associated with susceptibility to invasive Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi in BALB/c mice previously infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA.

Numerous mechanisms have been proposed to explain why patients with malaria are more susceptible to bloodstream invasions by Salmonella spp., however there are still several unknown critical factors regarding the pathogenesis of coinfection. From a coinfection model, in which an S. enterica serovar Typhi (S_Typhi) was chosen to challenge mice that had been infected 24 h earlier with Plasmodium berghei ANKA (P.b_ANKA), we evaluated the influence of malaria on cytokine levels, the functional activity of femoral bone marrow-derived macrophages and neutrophils, and intestinal permeability. The cytokine profile over eight days of coinfection showed exacerbation in the cytokines MCP-1, IFNγ and TNFα in relation to the increase seen in animals with malaria. The cytokine profile was associated with a considerably reduced neutrophil and macrophage count and a prominent dysfunction, especially in ex vivo neutrophils in coinfected mice, though without bacterial modulation that could influence the invasion capacity of ex vivo S_Typhi obtained from liver macerate in non-phagocyte cells. Finally, irregularities in the integrity of intestinal tissue evidenced ruptures in the enterocyte layer, a presence of mononuclear leukocytes in the enterocyte layer, an increase of goblet cells in the enterocyte layer and a high volume of leukocyte infiltrate in the sub-mucosa were greatly increased in coinfected animals. Increases of mononuclear leukocytes in the enterocyte layer and volume of leukocyte infiltrate in the sub-mucosa were also seen in monoinfected animals with P. berghei ANKA. Our findings suggest malaria causes a disarrangement of intestinal homeostasis, exacerbation of proinflammatory cytokines and dysfunction in neutrophils that render the host susceptible to bacteremia by Salmonella spp.

Covid-19 Automated Diagnosis and Risk Assessment through Metabolomics and Machine Learning.

COVID-19 is still placing a heavy health and financial burden worldwide. Impairment in patient screening and risk management plays a fundamental role on how governments and authorities are directing resources, planning reopening, as well as sanitary countermeasures, especially in regions where poverty is a major component in the equation. An efficient diagnostic method must be highly accurate, while having a cost-effective profile. We combined a machine learning-based algorithm with mass spectrometry to create an expeditious platform that discriminate COVID-19 in plasma samples within minutes, while also providing tools for risk assessment, to assist healthcare professionals in patient management and decision-making. A cross-sectional study enrolled 815 patients (442 COVID-19, 350 controls and 23 COVID-19 suspicious) from three Brazilian epicenters from April to July 2020. We were able to elect and identify 19 molecules related to the disease's pathophysiology and several discriminating features to patient's health-related outcomes. The method applied for COVID-19 diagnosis showed specificity >96% and sensitivity >83%, and specificity >80% and sensitivity >85% during risk assessment, both from blinded data. Our method introduced a new approach for COVID-19 screening, providing the indirect detection of infection through metabolites and contextualizing the findings with the disease's pathophysiology. The pairwise analysis of biomarkers brought robustness to the model developed using machine learning algorithms, transforming this screening approach in a tool with great potential for real-world application.

Methylprednisolone as Adjunctive Therapy for Patients Hospitalized With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19; Metcovid): A Randomized, Double-blind, Phase IIb, Placebo-controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Steroid use for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is based on the possible role of these drugs in mitigating the inflammatory response, mainly in the lungs, triggered by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of methylprednisolone (MP) among hospitalized patients with suspected COVID-19. METHODS: A parallel, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, Phase IIb clinical trial was performed with hospitalized patients aged ≥18 years with clinical, epidemiological, and/or radiological suspected COVID-19 at a tertiary care facility in Manaus, Brazil. Patients were randomly allocated (1:1 ratio) to receive either intravenous MP (0.5 mg/kg) or placebo (saline solution) twice daily for 5 days. A modified intention-to-treat (mITT) analysis was conducted. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. RESULTS: From 18 April to 16 June 2020, 647 patients were screened, 416 were randomized, and 393 were analyzed as mITT, with 194 individuals assigned to MP and 199 to placebo. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in 81.3%. The mortality rates at Day 28 were not different between groups. A subgroup analysis showed that patients over 60 years old in the MP group had a lower mortality rate at Day 28. Patients in the MP arm tended to need more insulin therapy, and no difference was seen in virus clearance in respiratory secretion until Day 7. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that a short course of MP in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 did not reduce mortality in the overall population. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT04343729.

Transmission-blocking compound candidates against Plasmodium vivax using P. berghei as an initial screening

BACKGROUND Different strategies for improvement of malaria control and elimination are based on the blockage of malaria parasite transmission to the mosquito vector. These strategies include the drugs that target the plasmodial sexual stages in humans and the early developmental stages inside mosquitoes. OBJECTIVES Here we tested Malaria Box compounds in order to evaluate their activity against male and female gametocytes in Plasmodium berghei, mosquito infection in P. vivax and ookinete formation in both species. METHODS/FINDINGS The membrane feeding assay and the development of ookinetes by a 24 h ex vivo culture and the ookinete yield per 1000 erythrocytes were used to test transmission-blocking potential of the Malaria Box compounds in P. vivax. For P. berghei we used flow cytometry to evaluate male and female gametocyte time course and fluorescence microscopy to check the ookinete development. The two species used in this study showed similar results concerning the compounds' activity against gametocytes and ookinetes, which were different from those in P. falciparum. In addition, from the eight Malaria Box compounds tested in both species, compounds MMV665830, MMV665878 and MMV665941 were selected as a hit compounds due the high inhibition observed. CONCLUSION Our results showed that P. berghei is suitable as an initial screening system to test compounds against P. vivax.