Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 management: an update.

BACKGROUND: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected more than 529 million people, and today the world is facing different mutant strains of the virus, leading to increased morbidity rates, fatality rates, and surfacing re-infections. Various therapies, such as prophylactic treatments, repurposed drug treatments, convalescent plasma, and polyclonal antibody therapy have been developed to help combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). AREA COVERED: This review article provides insights into the basic aspects of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for the therapy of COVID-19, as well as its advancement in terms of clinical trial and current approval status. EXPERT OPINION: Monoclonal antibodies represents the most effective and viable therapy and/or prophylaxis option against COVID-19, and have shown a reduction of the viral load, as well as lowering hospitalizations and death rates. In different countries, various mAbs are undergoing different phases of clinical trials, with a few of them having entered phases III and IV. Due to the soaring number of cases worldwide, the FDA has given emergency approval for the mAb combinations bamlanivimab with etesevimab and casirivimab with imdevimab.

Evolutionary and Antigenic Profiling of the Tendentious D614G Mutation of SARS-CoV-2 in Gujarat, India.

Humankind has suffered many pandemics in history including measles, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and recently the novel Coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. As of September 2021, it has affected over 200 million people and caused over 4 million deaths. India is the second most affected country in the world. Up to this date, more than 38 Lakh viral genomes have been submitted to public repositories like GISAID and NCBI to analyze the virus phylogeny and mutations. Here, we analyzed 2349 genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 submitted in GISAID by a single institute pertaining to infections from the Gujarat state to know their variants and phylogenetic distributions with a major focus on the spike protein. More than 93% of the genomes had one or more mutations in the spike glycoprotein. The D614G variant in spike protein is reported to have a very high frequency of >95% globally followed by the L452R and P681R, thus getting significant attention. The antigenic propensity of a small peptide of 29 residues from 597 to 625 of the spike protein variants having D614 and G614 showed that G614 has a little higher antigenic propensity. Thus, the D614G is the cause for higher viral antigenicity, however, it has not been reported to be effective to be causing more deaths.

In Vitro Antibacterial Evaluation of Terminalia chebula as an Alternative of Antibiotics against Bovine Subclinical Mastitis.

The extent of subclinical mastitis in three breeds of cattle, Kankrej, Gir, and Crossbred, was performed at cattle farms in Anand town of Gujarat State, India. The prevalence of subclinical mastitis in crossbred cattle was higher compared to local breed of cattle. Causative agents identified using 16S rDNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based molecular method were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Bacillus megaterium. In vitro antibacterial activity of ethyl acetate extract of plant Terminalia chebula (Combretaceae) was checked by agar well diffusion method against four isolated and molecularly identified microorganisms. Ethyl acetate extract shows antimicrobial activity with varying magnitudes against all identified isolates. Among the three different concentrations, 500 µg/mL conc. of extract is as effective as that of standard amoxicillin. In vitro results support the use of plant extract from T. chebula as an alternative to antibiotics therapy against bovine subclinical mastitis.