Science
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An urgent global quest for effective therapies to prevent and treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is ongoing. We previously described REGN-COV2, a cocktail of two potent neutralizing antibodies (REGN10987 and REGN10933) that targets nonoverlapping epitopes on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein. ⋯ Similarly, administration in hamsters limits weight loss and decreases lung titers and evidence of pneumonia in the lungs. Our results provide evidence of the therapeutic potential of this antibody cocktail.
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Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is closely associated with the accumulation of pathologic tau aggregates in the form of neurofibrillary tangles. We found that a p. Asp395Gly mutation in VCP (valosin-containing protein) was associated with dementia characterized neuropathologically by neuronal vacuoles and neurofibrillary tangles. ⋯ Asp395Gly VCP mice was knocked in, as compared with injected wild-type mice. These findings suggest that p. Asp395Gly VCP is an autosomal-dominant genetic mutation associated with neurofibrillary degeneration in part owing to reduced tau disaggregation, raising the possibility that VCP may represent a therapeutic target for the treatment of AD.
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), uses the viral spike (S) protein for host cell attachment and entry. The host protease furin cleaves the full-length precursor S glycoprotein into two associated polypeptides: S1 and S2. ⋯ Blocking this interaction by RNA interference or selective inhibitors reduced SARS-CoV-2 entry and infectivity in cell culture. NRP1 thus serves as a host factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection and may potentially provide a therapeutic target for COVID-19.