COVID-19 Research: Interesting COVID-19 Pre-Print Non-Peer Reviewed Research Studies Worth Exploring (Vol 2)
Source: COVID-19 Research Jun 07, 2020 4 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, 1 day, 15 hours, 36 minutes ago
COVID-19 Research: To date, there are more than 1,486 peer-reviewed published research studies related to COVID-19 in more than 185 medical journals not only in English but also in other languages.
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However there are almost more than 12,039 pre-print non-peer-reviewed studies published over the last few months in more than 17 pre-print servers online. Thailand Medical News in this second review picks up certain of this studies that we think are worth exploring further. We will be featuring more selected pre-prints in a weekly series.
1. Most COVID-19 RT-PCR Tests Cannot Detect Viral Loads Below A Certain Threshold; Hence There Could Be A Lot Of False Negatives.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.02.131144v1
Unknown to most people, most of the current RT-PCR COVID-19 Test are not able to detect the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus if there is less than about 100 viral copies per ml of the sample, (this threshold varies according to the test kits and the reagents used, some have varying LOD or limit of detection ratings ), hence the current testing methods might be missing out on a lot of people who are either asymptomatic or are in the early stages of the infection and are not showing symptoms yet.
2. Pitfalls in COVID-19 PCR Diagnostics
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.03.132357v1
This is another interesting study by German researchers from Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut tha highlights all the issues such as contamination of samples to wrong dilution concentrations of reagents being used and techniques of laboratory technicians that are all contributing to inaccurate COVID-19 test results.
3. Naturally Occurring SARS-Cov-2 Gene Deletions Close To The Spike S1/S2 Cleavage Site In The Viral Quasispecies Of COVID19 Patients
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.03.129585v1
This is an interesting research that most virologist and genomic specialists should explore further. Despite numerous so called ‘experts” still claiming that the SARS-CoV-2 is not mutating or evolving, meta-analysis and detailed studies of the various genomic sequencings are showing a complete different picture.
In this study by Spanish researchers, they highlight the fact that certain strains of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus could be evolving genetically thru codon changes on the spike proteins to facilitate better transmissibility and spread of the disease with much severity of symptoms.
However what the study just like many others does not say is what these coronaviruses could do to the overall medical status of the human host after a period of time.
4. Profound CD8 T Cell Responses towards the SARS-Cov-2 ORF1ab in COVID-19 Patients
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-33197/v1
This is an interesting study that if proven to be correct, will have enormous bearings on all the current vaccine develo
pment programs as the study show that there is a high response by the CD 8 T cells towards a particular segment of the SARS-CoV-2 genome ie the ORF1ab which many vaccines programs are not paying attention or taking into consideration in the vaccine development stages.
5. Identifying Human Interactors of SARS-CoV-2 Proteins and Drug Targets for COVID-19 using Network-Based Label Propagation
https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.01968
A research that claims to be able to predict human proteins interaction with SARS-CoV-2 proteins with a high degree of accuracy. One of the interesting points of this study is the potential role of HSPA5( a human protein) in viral entry, and its interactors with anti-clotting drugs, and the role of tubulin proteins involved in ciliary assembly that are targeted by anti-mitotic drugs.
6. Repurposing of FDA Approved Toremifene to Treat COVID-19 by Blocking the Spike Glycoprotein and NSP14 of Sarscov-2
https://chemrxiv.org/articles/Repurposing_of_FDA-Approved_Toremifene_to_Treat_COVID-19_by_Blocking_the_Spike_Glycoprotein_and_NSP14_of_SARS-CoV-2/12431966
This study by researchers from Case Western Reserve University explores the possibility of using the breast cancer drug Fareston (Toremifene) a first generation nonsteroidal selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) that is structurally related to tamoxifen to block spike proteins on the coronavirus to prevent binding to the human proteins as well as disrupting proteases involved with replication.
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