Scientific Research News | Research Progress of novel coronavirus Pneumonia (COVID-19) (IV)

1. 2019-nCoV Biology Research Progress

2020 Feb 2

• The National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and relevant researchers of the National Institute of Nanoscience and Technology Innovation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area carried out concentrated research and development of new coronavirus detection kits. At present, the kit has met the requirements of clinical application, and relevant units are further organizing the testing and preparation of positive reference products of the kit, and debugging the production process. The kit has been submitted to the nationally designated P3 laboratory for positive sample testing, and qualified manufacturers have been coordinated to strive to put into mass production as quickly as possible.

• The research team of Huang Yanyi and Xie Xiaoliang of Peking University and the research team of Wang Jianbin of Tsinghua University published a research paper in the international authoritative academic journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", saying that a new rapid library construction method for transcriptome sequencing called SHERRY has been developed, which is expected to help the sequencing of the new coronavirus. In this study, a new rapid library construction method for transcriptome sequencing based on Tn5 transposase has been developed, which will greatly simplify the process of library construction while using a small amount of sample. The results of this research can not only be used for high-quality single-cell transcriptome sequencing, but also may greatly improve the quality and speed of sequencing samples, including the coronavirus that is currently spreading unleashed. Like Professor Xie Xiaoliang's previous MALBAC, LIANTI and other methods, the research team continued to name the red wine and named it SHERRY (Sequencing HEteRo RNA-DNA-hYbrid).

• China-Japan Friendship Hospital announced that it has led the clinical research of remdesivir (Remdesivir) in the treatment of the new coronavirus in Wuhan epidemic area, and the website of the Drug Evaluation Center (CDE) of the State Food and Drug Administration disclosed that the application for remdesivir, a potentially effective drug for new coronavirus pneumonia, has been accepted.

• The Leibniz Primate Institute in Germany published a research paper online in bioRxiv to prove that the new coronavirus uses the SARS coronavirus receptor ACE2 to enter, and the cell protease TMPRSS2 is used for the novel coronavirus initiation. TMPRSS2 inhibitors block entry and may constitute a treatment option. Finally, the study showed that serum from convalescent SARS patients neutralized the entry of the novel coronavirus. This may translate into similar infectious and disease pathogenesis, and potential targets for antiviral interventions have also been identified.

■ Jiangsu Xuzhou CDC reported that 10 people in Suining County were close contacts of the same case to be confirmed, and one person infected multiple people

• Cell Press Coronavirus Resource Center is officially open. You can find the 2019-nCoV submission policy for <>-nCoV papers, as well as papers on outbreaks and viruses published in Cell Press' journals on this resource center page.

2. Research progress of 2019-nCoV therapeutics

2020 Feb 1

• The joint research team of Tianjin International Institute of Biomedicine and School of Pharmacy of Nankai University intends to carry out the research and development of preventive drugs through the three-step method of artificial intelligence screening, activity verification and druggability evaluation, build a three-dimensional structure of novel coronavirus Spike protein/human ACE2 protein interaction through homologous modeling, and screen potential interaction interface inhibitors from traditional Chinese medicine monomer library, medicinal and food homologous natural molecule library and drug compound library by using artificial intelligence-assisted virtual drug screening system. Particular attention is paid to the active molecules contained in medicinal and food homologous substances. The team extracted the protein sequence from the published 2019_nCov protein sequence, and simulated the CTD2 region of the Spike protein and the structure of the human ACE1 protein complex by homologous modeling based on the pattern of SARS virus Spike protein/human ACE2 protein recognition. By comparing the binding pattern of SARS virus Spike protein/human ACE2 protein, the hot spots and key residues of the protein-protein interaction interface of the 2019_nCov virus CTD1/human ACE2 complex were clarified, and the pharmacophore model was constructed with ACE2 amino acid residues by using the structure-based pharmacophore method, targeting the surface on which the CTD1 region binds to ACE2, screening candidate inhibitors, and blocking the recognition and binding of virus and human ACE2 protein. Finally, through the constructed pharmacophore model combined with molecular docking screening method, potential inhibitors targeting S protein were obtained from the drug-ready compound library (2373 compounds) and the medicinal and food homologous database (5632 compounds). They believe that through screening and comprehensive analysis of previous pharmacological information, it is observed that a variety of traditional Chinese medicines with homologous medicine contain potential active molecules that inhibit the binding of viruses to receptors, which can provide certain information for the compatibility of traditional Chinese medicine formulas and the prevention and treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia. (Please refer to: http://www.tjab.org/Content.aspx?ArticleId=02e98c2a-76aa-423c-a8f1-f7d3c6c9dba1)

3. Latest epidemiological statistics of 2019-nCoV

2020 Feb 2

• Feng Luzhao, a researcher at the Division of Infectious Diseases of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, responded at a press conference held by the National Health Commission on February 2 that this phenomenon shows that the virus can replicate and exist in the digestive tract, but whether it will be transmitted through fecal oral transmission or retransmitted through droplets containing the virus to form aerosols needs to be further confirmed by epidemiological investigation and research.

2020 Feb 2

• Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, held a press conference at 2:1 on February 21, saying that the virus RNA positive was detected in the feces of confirmed patients, which means that there is a possibility of fecal-oral transmission of new coronavirus infection. Liu Yingxia, vice president in charge of scientific research at Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, said that the hospital's Institute of Liver Disease found that the detection of 30-nCoV nucleic acid (new coronavirus) positive in the feces of some patients diagnosed with pneumonia infected with the new coronavirus is likely to indicate the presence of live virus in the stool. It is reported that fecal-oral transmission, also known as through the digestive tract, means that the pathogen of infectious diseases can survive in the stool, so it can be transmitted through the feces excreted by the digestive tract, if these feces with pathogens, contaminate hands or food, then the disease will enter from the mouth, resulting in infection to other people.