scholarly journals A combination of potently neutralizing monoclonal antibodies isolated from an Indian convalescent donor protects against the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitin Hingankar ◽  
Suprit Deshpande ◽  
Payel Das ◽  
Zaigham Abbas Rizvi ◽  
Alison Burns ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Monoclonal Antibodies ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Mice Model ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Virus Attachment ◽  
Vaccine Responses ◽  
Need For Treatment ◽  
Global Pandemic

Although efficacious vaccines have significantly reduced the morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19, there remains an unmet medical need for treatment options, which monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) can potentially fill. This unmet need is exacerbated by the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) that have shown some resistance to vaccine responses. Here we report the isolation of two highly potently neutralizing mAbs (THSC20.HVTR04 and THSC20.HVTR26) from an Indian convalescent donor, that neutralize SARS-CoV-2 VOCs at picomolar concentrations including the delta variant (B.1.617.2). These two mAbs target non-overlapping epitopes on the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein thereby preventing the virus attachment to its host receptor, human angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (hACE2). Furthermore, the mAb cocktail demonstrated protection against the Delta variant at low antibody doses when passively administered in the K18 hACE2 transgenic mice model, highlighting their potential as cocktail for prophylactic and therapeutic applications. Developing the capacity to rapidly discover and develop mAbs effective against highly transmissible pathogens like coronaviruses at a local level, especially in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC) such as India, will enable prompt responses to future pandemics as an important component of global pandemic preparedness.

scholarly journals Nutritional perspectives for the prevention and mitigation of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Akhtar ◽  
Jai K Das ◽  
Tariq Ismail ◽  
Muqeet Wahid ◽  
Wisha Saeed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Options ◽  
Micronutrient Supplementation ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Nutritional Interventions ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Viable Approach ◽  
Micronutrient Fortification ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Abstract Worldwide, there is an array of clinical trials under way to evaluate treatment options against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Concurrently, several nutritional therapies and alternative supportive treatments are also being used and tested to reduce the mortality associated with acute respiratory distress in patients with COVID-19. In the context of COVID-19, improved nutrition that includes micronutrient supplementation to augment the immune system has been recognized as a viable approach to both prevent and alleviate the severity of the infection. The potential role of micronutrients as immune-boosting agents is particularly relevant for low- and middle-income countries, which already have an existing high burden of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. A systematic literature review was performed to identify nutritional interventions that might prevent or aid in the recovery from COVID-19. The PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were searched electronically from February to April 2020. All abstracts and full-text articles were examined for their relevance to this review. The information gathered was collated under various categories. Deficiencies of micronutrients, especially vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, zinc, iron, and selenium, are common among vulnerable populations in general and among COVID-19 patients in particular and could plausibly increase the risk of mortality. Judicious use of need-based micronutrient supplementation, alongside existing micronutrient fortification programs, is warranted in the current global pandemic, especially in low- and middle-income economies.

Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis: the Mayo Clinic experience (1980–2017)

Rheumatology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 1898-1905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catalina Sanchez-Alvarez ◽  
Avneek Singh Sandhu ◽  
Cynthia S Crowson ◽  
David A Wetter ◽  
Gavin A McKenzie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mayo Clinic ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Skin Lesions ◽  
Multicentric Reticulohistiocytosis ◽  
Need For Treatment ◽  
Clinic Experience ◽  
Joint Effusions ◽  
Rheumatic Conditions ◽  
Record Review

Abstract Objectives Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis (MRH), a rare histiocytic disease that can mimic other rheumatic conditions, may be associated with cancer and other autoimmune disorders. To better understand the disorder and its other associations, we aimed to evaluate clinical correlates and outcomes of all patients with MRH seen at Mayo Clinic, Rochester between 1980 and 2017. Methods A retrospective medical record review was conducted to identify all patients with MRH between 1 January 1980 and 30 April 2017. Results We identified 24 patients with biopsy-proven MRH (58% female, 75% Caucasian, median age at diagnosis 52 years, median follow-up of 2.3 years). All patients had cutaneous and articular involvement; 23 (96%) patients had papulonodular skin lesions (87% periungual and dorsal hand) and seven (30%) mucosal nodules; and 22 (92%) patients had arthralgias, 21 (88%) joint effusions and 13 (54%) synovitis. Most frequently used therapies included corticosteroids, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and bisphosphonates. Biologics were used in four patients. Nine patients had symptomatic resolution at 1 year and 12 partial improvement. Radiological findings included erosive changes in three (60%) patients and arthritis mutilans in two patients (40%). Twenty-nine per cent of patients had a concomitant autoimmune disease and 25% malignancy including melanoma, endometrial, peritoneal and lung carcinoma. The 5-year survival rate was 85% (95% CI: 74, 100%). Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the largest single-centre series of patients with MRH highlighting the rarity of the condition and an unmet need for treatment options that can allow sustained disease remission. It also highlights the need for a high vigilance for malignancy and autoimmune diseases.

Stargardt and Fundus Flavimaculatus; Current and Developing Treatments

2021 ◽  
pp. 190-200
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Options ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Macular Dystrophy ◽  
Stargardt Disease ◽  
Need For Treatment ◽  
Complement Inhibitors ◽  
Abca4 Gene ◽  
Hereditary Retinal Degeneration ◽  
Pigment Epithelial Cells ◽  
Fundus Flavimaculatus

Stargardt macular dystrophy is a hereditary retinal degeneration that lacks effective treatment options. The pathophysiology of the disease is still not fully understood. While there are currently no available treatments for Stargardt disease, there are many categories of therapeutics under investigation to fulfill this unmet need for treatment. These include investigational visual cycle modulators, complement inhibitors, ABCA4 gene therapy, and subretinal transplantation of stem cell-derived retina pigment epithelial cells. Further trials are warranted to assess efficacy and safety in humans. In this review, the treatments investigated for the Stargardt disease are explained.

Alternative medicine as a treatment options for COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 07 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahfuza Marzan ◽  
Md. Shahedur Rahman ◽  
Md. Abu Hena Mostofa Jamal ◽  
Mohammad Hossain Shariare ◽  
Md. Anowar Khasru Parvez
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Vitamin D ◽  
Distress Syndrome ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Viral Disease ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Medicinal Properties ◽  
Mode Of Transmission ◽  
High Infectivity

: COVID-19, a viral disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 is the reason of a global pandemic since the starting of the year 2020. The characteristic of the disease varies from mild common cold like symptoms to acute respiratory distress syndrome and multi-organ failure leading to death. World has already observed 213,453 deaths from this disease while 3,095,839 have been infected in 210 countries in total till 28 April, 2020. This disease has a devastating impact over the health care system because of its high infectivity, easy mode of transmission, lack of proper medicine and vaccine and deficiency of enough supportive healthcare arrangement. On verge of this situation scientists are searching the treatment options. However, nature has provided us with enormous herbs which have disease preventive as well as have medicinal properties. In this article we have reviewed several of these plants (ginger, clove, tea, black seed, tulsi, neem) and some vitamins (vitamin C and vitamin D) and zinc which have antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-asthmatic properties with scientific evidence. The intake of these products regularly to keep the immune system active, to experience its positive aspects might be supportive to prevent infection with the new coronavirus or to treat COVID-19.

scholarly journals Procurement, finance and the energy transition: Between global processes and territorial realities

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862199112
Author(s):  
Lucy Baker
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Renewable Electricity ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Asset Class ◽  
Renewable Electricity Generation ◽  
Utility Scale

Utility-scale renewable electricity generation is essential to decarbonisation as well as to ensuring affordable and secure electricity supplies around the world. Yet thus far there has been limited critical thinking dedicated to the complexities behind the finance and ownership of this new infrastructure and how national and local stakeholders should participate in and benefit from its development, particularly in contexts of high inequality in low- and middle-income countries. As the global renewable energy industry becomes increasingly consolidated and financialised, evidence from a number of countries suggests that despite the pro-environmental outcomes of utility-scale renewable electricity generation, the processes and institutions that procure and finance it have often failed to include or benefit individuals and communities living in the national and local vicinity. This paper therefore sets two key competing objectives of renewable electricity generation in context: as a predictable, long-term revenue stream for investors, and as a mechanism for socio-economic development and community empowerment. Building on scholarship from human geography, development studies and sustainability transitions, my analysis takes forward understandings of the role of finance in utility-scale renewable electricity generation as a key aspect of the political economy of the energy transition. In exploring the evolution of renewable electricity as a new and rapidly emerging asset class I consider how its development is increasingly determined by the frameworks and logics of finance and investment. Drawing on examples from South Africa and Mexico, I address the following questions: What are the evolving configurations and processes of finance and investment in utility-scale renewable electricity generation? How have they been facilitated? And what tensions have arisen from their implementation at the national and local level?

scholarly journals Immunotherapy Predictive Molecular Markers in Advanced Gastroesophageal Cancer: MSI and Beyond

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1715
Author(s):  
Robin Park ◽  
Laercio Lopes ◽  
Anwaar Saeed
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Options ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Predictive Biomarkers ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Gastroesophageal Cancer ◽  
Programmed Death ◽  
Phase Iii Trials ◽  
Tumor Mutational Burden ◽  
Large Phase ◽  
Programmed Death 1

Advanced gastroesophageal cancer (GEC) has a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Immunotherapy including the anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) antibodies pembrolizumab and nivolumab have been approved for use in various treatment settings in GEC. Additionally, frontline chemoimmunotherapy regimens have recently demonstrated promising efficacy in large phase III trials and have the potential to be added to the therapeutic armamentarium in the near future. There are currently several immunotherapy biomarkers that are validated for use in the clinical setting for GEC including programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression as well as the tumor agnostic biomarkers such as mismatch repair or microsatellite instability (MMR/MSI) and tumor mutational burden (TMB). However, apart from MMR/MSI, these biomarkers are imperfect because none are highly sensitive nor specific. Therefore, there is an unmet need for immunotherapy biomarker development. To this end, several biomarkers are currently being evaluated in ongoing trials with some showing promising predictive potential. Here, we summarize the landscape of immunotherapy predictive biomarkers that are currently being evaluated in GEC.

scholarly journals Taking Paediatrics Abroad: Working with low‐ and middle‐income countries in a global pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneka Parker ◽  
Eap Tek Chheng ◽  
Titus Nasi ◽  
Thyna Orelly ◽  
George Aho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Low And Middle Income

scholarly journals MP-AzeFlu in Moderate-to-Severe Allergic Rhinitis: A Literature Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ludger Klimek ◽  
William E. Berger ◽  
Jean Bousquet ◽  
Paul K. Keith ◽  
Peter Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Allergic Rhinitis ◽  
Fluticasone Propionate ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Symptomatic Disease ◽  
Intranasal Corticosteroids ◽  
Need For Treatment ◽  
Ocular Symptoms ◽  
Symptom Complex

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is prevalent, and many patients present with moderate-to-severe symptomatic disease. The majority of patients are not satisfied with their AR treatment, despite the use of concurrent medications. These gaps underscore the need for treatment with more effective options for moderate-to-severe AR. The authors’ objective was to review systematically the efficacy and safety of MP-AzeFlu for the treatment of AR. The primary outcomes studied were nasal, ocular, and total symptoms. Other outcomes included time to onset and of AR control, quality of life, and safety. Searches of PubMed and Cochrane databases were conducted on May 14, 2020, with no date restrictions, to identify publications reporting data on MP-AzeFlu. Clinical studies of any phase were included. Studies were excluded if they were not in English, were review articles, did not discuss the safety and efficacy of MP-AzeFlu for AR symptoms. Treatment of AR with MP-AzeFlu results in effective, sustained relief of nasal and ocular symptoms, and faster onset and time to control compared with intranasal azelastine or fluticasone propionate. Long-term use of MP-AzeFlu was safe, with benefits in children, adults, and adults aged ≥65 years. Other treatment options, including fluticasone propionate and azelastine alone or the combination of intranasal corticosteroids and oral antihistamine, do not provide the same level of efficacy as MP-AzeFlu in terms of rapid and sustained relief of the entire AR symptom complex. Furthermore, MP-AzeFlu significantly improves patient quality of life. MP-AzeFlu is a currently available combination that may satisfy all these patient needs and expectations.

scholarly journals Against the Resilience of High-Grade Gliomas: The Immunotherapeutic Approach (Part I)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 386
Author(s):  
Alice Giotta Lucifero ◽  
Sabino Luzzi
Keyword(s):  
Monoclonal Antibodies ◽  
Natural Killer ◽  
Immune Escape ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
High Grade Glioma ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Genetic Landscape ◽  
High Grade Gliomas

The resilience of high-grade gliomas (HGGs) against conventional chemotherapies is due to their heterogeneous genetic landscape, adaptive phenotypic changes, and immune escape mechanisms. Innovative immunotherapies have been developed to counteract the immunosuppressive capability of gliomas. Nevertheless, further research is needed to assess the efficacy of the immuno-based approach. The aim of this study is to review the newest immunotherapeutic approaches for glioma, focusing on the drug types, mechanisms of action, clinical pieces of evidence, and future challenges. A PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis)-based literature search was performed on PubMed/Medline and ClinicalTrials.gov databases using the keywords “active/adoptive immunotherapy,” “monoclonal antibodies,” “vaccine,” and “engineered T cell.”, combined with “malignant brain tumor”, “high-grade glioma.” Only articles written in English published in the last 10 years were selected, filtered based on best relevance. Active immunotherapies include systemic temozolomide, monoclonal antibodies, and vaccines. In several preclinical and clinical trials, adoptive immunotherapies, including T, natural killer, and natural killer T engineered cells, have been shown to be potential treatment options for relapsing gliomas. Systemic temozolomide is considered the backbone for newly diagnosed HGGs. Bevacizumab and rindopepimut are promising second-line treatments. Adoptive immunotherapies have been proven for relapsing tumors, but further evidence is needed.

Extended dosing of monoclonal antibodies in multiple sclerosis

2021 ◽  
pp. 135245852110657
Author(s):  
Zoé LE van Kempen ◽  
Alyssa A Toorop ◽  
Finn Sellebjerg ◽  
Gavin Giovannoni ◽  
Joep Killestein
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Monoclonal Antibodies ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Therapeutic Drug ◽  
Therapeutic Landscape ◽  
Anti Cd20 ◽  
Dosing Intervals ◽  
Care Costs ◽  
Review Current

Over the past two decades, treatment options for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have increased exponentially. In the current therapeutic landscape, “no evidence of MS disease activity” is within reach in many of our patients. Minimizing risks of complications, improving treatment convenience, and decreasing health care costs are goals that are yet to be reached. One way to optimize MS therapy is to implement personalized or extended interval dosing. Monoclonal antibodies are suitable candidates for personalized dosing (by therapeutic drug monitoring) or extended interval dosing. An increasing number of studies are performed and underway reporting on altered dosing intervals of anti-α4β1-integrin treatment (natalizumab) and anti-CD20 treatment (ocrelizumab, rituximab, and ofatumumab) in MS. In this review, current available evidence regarding personalized and extended interval dosing of monoclonal antibodies in MS is discussed with recommendations for future research and clinical practice.

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