Immune evasion of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2); molecular approaches.

In December 2019, a new betacoronavirus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), caused an outbreak at the Wuhan seafood market in China. The disease was further named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the disease to be a pandemic, as more cases were reported globally. SARS-CoV-2, like many other viruses, employs diverse strategies to elude the host immune response and/or counter immune responses. The infection outcome mainly depends on interactions between the virus and the host immune system. Inhibiting IFN production, blocking IFN signaling, enhancing IFN resistance, and hijacking the host's translation machinery to expedite the production of viral proteins are among the main immune evasion mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 also downregulates the expression of MHC-I on infected cells, which is an additional immune-evasion mechanism of this virus. Moreover, antigenic modifications to the spike (S) protein, such as deletions, insertions, and also substitutions are essential for resistance to SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. This review assesses the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and host immune response and cellular and molecular approaches used by SARS-CoV-2 for immune evasion. Understanding the mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 immune evasion is essential since it can improve the development of novel antiviral treatment options as well as vaccination methods.

Effectiveness of Borage plus syrup on COVID-19 patients in intensive care units.

Introduction: COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-2019) still causes a high rate of death globally with no definite curative treatment described. The traditional plant Borage (Borago officinalis L.) is a good source of gamma-linolenic (GLA). We hypothesized that Borage plus syrup (BPS) would be beneficial in severe COVID-19 patients within an intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Materials and methods: A pilot single center, randomized trial with no placebo was undertaken. A total of 60 PCR-positive severe COVID-19 participants admitted to ICU from June 2020-December 2020 at Masih Daneshvari Hospital Tehran-Iran gave informed consent. The participants were randomly assigned to either Borage Plus Syrup (BPS, 5 ml for 5 days) (n = 30) or standard care (IFN-ß and favipiravir) as a control group (n = 30). Pao2/Fio2, serum ferritin, CRP, bilirubin, IL-6, TNF-α, ALT, AST, PCT and serum IL-8 was measured upon admission and on release. Results: All the measured parameters decreased significantly with BPS treatment. In the control group, most parameters significantly improved apart from AST and PCT. In addition, the suppression of serum TNF levels in the BPS group was greater than that seen in the control group (P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, the length of ICU stay was significantly lower in the BPS group compared with the control group (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: Our study shows that addition of BPS to the standard treatment regime of COVID-19 patients in ICU improved outcomes and reduced the length of ICU treatment. Natural products could be considered as new approaches for reducting the harmful consequences of COVID-19.

Human Papilloma Virus Genotype Distribution in Cervical lesions in Zanjan, Iran

Objective: Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers among women all over the world, and main cause is persistent infection with high risk human papillomavirus (HPV) strains. It has been reported that the distribution and prevalence of HPV types varies by geographical region, so that this is important for prevention by type-specific vaccines. The aim of current study was to determine the genotype distribution of HPV using the INNO-LiPA genotyping assay in Zanjan province, North West Iran. Methods: A total of 112 formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue samples from cases of low-grade intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), high-grade intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were collected. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify DNA for genotyping. Results: Among the 112 samples from females (ranging from 20 to 69 years, mean age 43.8 ± 10.1) tested for HPV DNA, 50 samples were positive. Based on results of genotyping, most common HPV genotypes were HPV18 (48%) followed by HPV-6 (24%), HPV73 (16%), HPV-51(8%), HPV-31(8%), HPV-16 (8%), HPV-56 (4%), HPV-44 (4%). Conclusion: While HPV infection is the major etiological factor for cervical cancer, presence was relatively low in our survey. In the positive cases, however, HPV18 was the most common in line with many other populations. The fact that types vary among different populations must clearly be taken into account in design of vaccines for our country.