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A monoclonal antibody is an antibody produced from a cell lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell.
In immunology, seroconversion is the development of specific antibodies in the blood serum as a result of infection or immunization, including vaccination. During infection or immunization, antigens enter the blood, and the immune system begins to produce antibodies in response. Before seroconversion, the antigen itself may or may not be detectable, but the antibody is absent. During seroconversion, the antibody is present but not yet detectable. After seroconversion, the antibody is detectable by standard techniques and remains detectable unless the individual seroreverts, in a phenomenon called seroreversion, or loss of antibody detectability, which can occur due to weakening of the immune system or decreasing antibody concentrations over time. Seroconversion refers the production of specific antibodies against specific antigens, meaning that a single infection could cause multiple waves of seroconversion against different antigens. Similarly, a single antigen could cause multiple waves of seroconversion with different classes of antibodies. For example, most antigens prompt seroconversion for the IgM class of antibodies first, and subsequently the IgG class.
Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) are a spectrum of autoimmune diseases characterized by acute inflammation of the optic nerve and the spinal cord (myelitis). Episodes of ON and myelitis can be simultaneous or successive. A relapsing disease course is common, especially in untreated patients.
A cytokine storm, also called hypercytokinemia, is a pathological reaction in humans and other animals in which the innate immune system causes an uncontrolled and excessive release of pro-inflammatory signaling molecules called cytokines. Cytokines are a normal part of the body's immune response to infection, but their sudden release in large quantities may cause multisystem organ failure and death.
CD16, also known as FcγRIII, is a cluster of differentiation molecule found on the surface of natural killer cells, neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, and certain T cells. CD16 has been identified as Fc receptors FcγRIIIa (CD16a) and FcγRIIIb (CD16b), which participate in signal transduction. The most well-researched membrane receptor implicated in triggering lysis by NK cells, CD16 is a molecule of the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) involved in antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). It can be used to isolate populations of specific immune cells through fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS) or magnetic-activated cell sorting, using antibodies directed towards CD16.
Olokizumab (OKZ) sold under the name Artlegia, is an immunosuppressive drug, used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and COVID-19. It is a humanized monoclonal antibody against the interleukin-6 (IL-6). IL-6 is a cytokine that plays an important role in immune response and is implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Olokizumab is the first interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibitor approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis which blocks directly cytokine instead of its receptor. Olokizumab specifically binds to IL-6 at Site 3, blocking IL-6 ability to form hexameric complex. Olokizumab was developed by R-Pharm group, and was launched in 2020.
Antisynthetase syndrome (ASS) is a multisystematic autoimmune disease associated with inflammatory myositis, interstitial lung disease, and antibodies directed against various synthetases of aminoacyl-transfer RNA. Other common symptoms include mechanic's hands, Raynaud's phenomenon, arthritis, and fever.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 testing involves analyzing samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2. The two main types of tests detect either the presence of the virus or antibodies produced in response to infection. Molecular tests for viral presence through its molecular components are used to diagnose individual cases and to allow public health authorities to trace and contain outbreaks. Antibody tests instead show whether someone once had the disease. They are less useful for diagnosing current infections because antibodies may not develop for weeks after infection. It is used to assess disease prevalence, which aids the estimation of the infection fatality rate.
COVID-19 infection in pregnancy is associated with several pregnancy complications. However, pregnancy does not appear to increase the susceptibility of becoming infected by COVID-19. Recommendations for the prevention of COVID-19 include the same measures as non-pregnant people.
Drug repositioning is the repurposing of an approved drug for the treatment of a different disease or medical condition than that for which it was originally developed. This is one line of scientific research which is being pursued to develop safe and effective COVID-19 treatments. Other research directions include the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and convalescent plasma transfusion.
COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research, with 419 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of April 2021.
The UK Coronavirus Cancer Programme or UKCCP is one of the longest running UK pandemic research programmes to safeguard, monitor and protect individuals living with cancer from COVID-19 across the United Kingdom.
Convalescent plasma is the blood plasma collected from a survivor of an infectious disease. This plasma contains antibodies specific to a pathogen and can be used therapeutically by providing passive immunity when transfusing it to a newly infected patient with the same condition. Convalescent plasma can be transfused as it has been collected or become the source material for hyperimmune serum or anti-pathogen monoclonal antibodies; the latter consists exclusively of IgG, while convalescent plasma also includes IgA and IgM. Collection is typically achieved by apheresis, but in low-to-middle income countries, the treatment can be administered as convalescent whole blood.
The symptoms of COVID-19 are variable depending on the type of variant contracted, ranging from mild symptoms to a potentially fatal illness. Common symptoms include coughing, fever, loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia), with less common ones including headaches, nasal congestion and runny nose, muscle pain, sore throat, diarrhea, eye irritation, and toes swelling or turning purple, and in moderate to severe cases, breathing difficulties. People with the COVID-19 infection may have different symptoms, and their symptoms may change over time. Three common clusters of symptoms have been identified: one respiratory symptom cluster with cough, sputum, shortness of breath, and fever; a musculoskeletal symptom cluster with muscle and joint pain, headache, and fatigue; and a cluster of digestive symptoms with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. In people without prior ear, nose, or throat disorders, loss of taste combined with loss of smell is associated with COVID-19 and is reported in as many as 88% of symptomatic cases.
The treatment and management of COVID-19 combines both supportive care, which includes treatment to relieve symptoms, fluid therapy, oxygen support as needed, and a growing list of approved medications. Highly effective vaccines have reduced mortality related to SARS-CoV-2; however, for those awaiting vaccination, as well as for the estimated millions of immunocompromised persons who are unlikely to respond robustly to vaccination, treatment remains important. Some people may experience persistent symptoms or disability after recovery from the infection, known as long COVID, but there is still limited information on the best management and rehabilitation for this condition.
EpiVacCorona is a peptide-based vaccine against COVID-19 developed by the Russian VECTOR Center of Virology. The lack of protective effectiveness of EpiVacCorona, which is still in use in Russia, has been reported in scientific literature and in the media. The vaccine consists of three chemically synthesized peptides that are conjugated to a large carrier protein. This protein is a fusion product of a viral nucleocapsid protein and a bacterial MBP protein. A phase III clinical trial to show whether or not the vaccine can protect people against COVID-19 was launched in November 2020 with more than three thousand participants. The conclusions and results of the trial have not been made public.
There is increasing evidence suggesting that COVID-19 causes both acute and chronic neurologicalor psychological symptoms. Caregivers of COVID-19 patients also show a higher than average prevalence of mental health concerns. These symptoms result from multiple different factors.
Spike (S) glycoprotein is the largest of the four major structural proteins found in coronaviruses. The spike protein assembles into trimers that form large structures, called spikes or peplomers, that project from the surface of the virion. The distinctive appearance of these spikes when visualized using negative stain transmission electron microscopy, "recalling the solar corona", gives the virus family its main name.
COVID-19 vaccine clinical research uses clinical research to establish the characteristics of COVID-19 vaccines. These characteristics include efficacy, effectiveness, and safety. As of November 2022, 40 vaccines are authorized by at least one national regulatory authority for public use:
References
- ↑ Harrison, Charlotte (1 August 2020). "Focus shifts to antibody cocktails for COVID-19 cytokine storm". Nature Biotechnology. 38 (8): 905–908. doi: 10.1038/s41587-020-0634-9 . ISSN 1546-1696. PMID 32760027. S2CID 220980850.
- ↑ Gomon, Y. M.; Strizheletsky, V. V.; Ivanov, I. G.; Balykina, Y. E.; Ermolyev, M. V.; Kolbin, A. S.; Livshits, M. V.; Usmanova, T. A.; Fakhrutdinova, A. M.; Konstantinova, Y. S.; Gubanov, A. P. (2023). "Efficiency of Levilimab in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19". Farmakoekonomika (in Russian). pp. 36–47. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
- ↑ Lomakin, Nikita V.; Bakirov, Bulat A.; Protsenko, Denis N.; Mazurov, Vadim I.; Musaev, Gaziyavdibir H.; Moiseeva, Olga M.; Pasechnik, Elena S.; Popov, Vladimir V.; Smolyarchuk, Elena A.; Gordeev, Ivan G.; Gilyarov, Mikhail Yu; Fomina, Darya S.; Seleznev, Anton I.; Linkova, Yulia N.; Dokukina, Ekaterina A.; Eremeeva, Anna V.; Pukhtinskaia, Polina S.; Morozova, Maria A.; Zinkina-Orikhan, Arina V.; Lutckii, Anton A. (December 2021). "The efficacy and safety of levilimab in severely ill COVID-19 patients not requiring mechanical ventilation: results of a multicenter randomized double-blind placebo-controlled phase III CORONA clinical study". Inflammation Research. 70 (10–12): 1233–1246. doi:10.1007/s00011-021-01507-5. ISSN 1420-908X. PMC 8479713 . PMID 34586459.
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