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Message Subject Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) when COVID-19 disease is suspected *notes to self
Poster Handle Anonymous Coward
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[link to www.jstage.jst.go.jp (secure)]

Lectins as Bioactive Proteins in Foods and Feeds
Koji Muramoto





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Immunomodulating effects

Nowell's discovery of the mitogenic activity of PHA on lymphocytes had a huge impact on various research fields, including immunology and cell biology, since lymphocytes had previously been regarded as terminal cells that could neither divide nor differentiate (Sharon and Lis, 1998). Since then, many mitogenic lectins have been isolated and characterized. These lectins are taken up into the gut barrier and subsequently transported throughout the body, resulting in antibody production and other immunological effects. PHA and several other common lectins induced human basophils to secrete interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-13, the key promoters of T helper type (Th2) cell responses and IgE synthesis (Vasconcelos and Oliveira, 2004).

Garlic (Allium sativum), an important medicinal spice, displays a plethora of biological effects, including immunomodulation. Garlic lectins, ASA I and ASA II, are contained in the bulb as major proteins, and belong to the monocot mannose-specific lectins. Garlic lectins non-specifically activated mast cells and basophils in atopic subjects as a result of the higher density of IgE (Clement et al., 2010). More atopic subjects showed positive reaction in the skin prick test using garlic lectins than non-atopic (normal) subjects. These results suggest that ASAs are potent mitogens with potential utility in therapeutic immunomodulation, especially because they are derived from a safe dietary source. Lectins from other Allium sp. exert similar immunomodulating effects (Yamazaki et al., 2016).

Antimicrobial activity

Mannose-binding lectins exhibit significant activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other viruses with an envelope (Akkouh et al., 2015). Viral envelope glycoproteins such as gp41 and gp120 cover the surfaces of retroviruses such as HIV and many other viruses. Since these envelope glycoproteins are heavily glycosylated with mannose residues, mannose-binding lectins interfere with viral attachment in the early stage of the replication cycle and suppress growth by interacting at the end of the virus infectious cycle. The mannose-binding lectins from cyanobacteria and algae display high anti-HIV potencies with nanomolar-picomolar IC50 values (Hirayama et al., 2016). Banana (Musa acuminata) lectin was observed to directly bind gp120 and block cellular entry of HIV, thereby suppressing HIV infection (Swanson et al., 2010).


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Quick retraction of a faulty coronavirus paper was a good moment for science

[link to www.statnews.com (secure)]

Titled “Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag,” the paper claimed to find similarities between the new coronavirus and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The use of the word “uncanny” in the title, together with “unlikely to be fortuitous” in the abstract, led some to think that the authors were suggesting the virus had somehow been engineered by humans.

The paper, from academic institutions in New Delhi, India, was critical and alarming, if true. Except that it wasn’t.

The paper was almost immediately withdrawn,
 
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