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Open Access
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Outlook |
The slow roll-out of the world’s first malaria vaccine
After 30 years of development, there is finally a vaccine for malaria. But it might take years to get it to the children who need it.
- Cassandra Willyard
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Article
| Open AccessImprinted SARS-CoV-2 humoral immunity induces convergent Omicron RBD evolution
Convergent mutations in hotspots of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron receptor-binding domain can cause immune evasion and maintain sufficient ACE2-binding capability.
- Yunlong Cao
- , Fanchong Jian
- & Xiaoliang Sunney Xie
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Article |
SARS-CoV-2 infection and persistence in the human body and brain at autopsy
A study reports the distribution, replication and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 throughout the human body including in the brain at autopsy from acute infection to more than seven months following symptom onset.
- Sydney R. Stein
- , Sabrina C. Ramelli
- & Daniel S. Chertow
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News & Views |
How a malaria parasite becomes a male
Organisms use various strategies for sex determination. The non-genetic mechanism in the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum, involving a male-specific factor, has now been revealed.
- Elisabet Tintó-Font
- & Alfred Cortés
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Article |
In vitro production of infectious Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites
Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites produced in vitro recapitulate the P. falciparum life cycle from gametocyte to gametocyte without mosquitoes or primates.
- Abraham G. Eappen
- , Tao Li
- & Stephen L. Hoffman
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Article
| Open AccessFXR inhibition may protect from SARS-CoV-2 infection by reducing ACE2
FXR regulates the levels of ACE2 in tissues of the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems that are affected by COVID-19, and inhibiting FXR with ursodeoxycholic acid downregulates ACE2 and reduces susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
- Teresa Brevini
- , Mailis Maes
- & Fotios Sampaziotis
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Research Briefing |
Host–parasite dynamics in the liver stage of malaria
Gene expression was assessed in individual liver cells from mice that were infected with the rodent-specific form of the malaria parasite. This revealed that infections of cells in the inner zones of the lobule units that make up the liver are more likely to succeed than are infections in the outer zones.
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News |
Resistant mosquito threatens Africa’s fight against malaria
Study links invasive Anopheles stephensi to a recent outbreak in Ethiopia, worrying scientists.
- Max Kozlov
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Article |
Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death
Klunk and colleagues identify signatures of natural selection imposed by Yersinia pestis and demonstrate their effect on genetic diversity and susceptibility to certain diseases in the present day.
- Jennifer Klunk
- , Tauras P. Vilgalys
- & Luis B. Barreiro
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Editorial |
Laggard rich countries risk slowing the fight against AIDS, malaria and TB
The United Kingdom and Italy need to renew their commitments to banish these major infectious killers from the world.
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News |
Lifesaving fund to fight AIDS, malaria and TB falls short of $18-billion target
Pledges are ‘a drop in the ocean of needs’, says TB charity.
- T. V. Padma
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Article |
SARS-CoV-2 disrupts host epigenetic regulation via histone mimicry
The SARS-CoV-2 protein ORF8 functions as a mimic of histone H3 to disrupt host cell epigenetic regulation.
- John Kee
- , Samuel Thudium
- & Erica Korb
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Article |
PD-1 combination therapy with IL-2 modifies CD8+ T cell exhaustion program
PD-1+TCF1+ stem-like CD8+ T cells—precursors of exhausted CD8+ T cells—are not fate-locked into the exhaustion program; their differentiation trajectory can be changed by IL-2 signals.
- Masao Hashimoto
- , Koichi Araki
- & Rafi Ahmed
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News Round-Up |
Seafood carbon footprint, malaria vaccine and a US health chief
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
Common human genetic variants of APOE impact murine COVID-19 mortality
Mice bearing different variants of APOE exhibit different COVID-19 outcomes, with APOE2 and APOE4 associated with more severe disease, and this relationship between APOE genotype and disease severity is supported by clinical data in humans.
- Benjamin N. Ostendorf
- , Mira A. Patel
- & Sohail F. Tavazoie
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News |
Malaria vaccine booster prolongs protection
Vaccine candidate provides two years of protection in young children when given as a booster, but larger trials are needed before it can be rolled out.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article
| Open AccessDysregulated naive B cells and de novo autoreactivity in severe COVID-19
Single-cell B cell repertoire analysis identifies the expansion of a naive-derived population of antibody-secreting cells contributing to de novo autoreactivity in patients with severe COVID-19 and those with post-COVID symptoms.
- Matthew C. Woodruff
- , Richard P. Ramonell
- & Ignacio Sanz
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Article
| Open AccessContext-specific emergence and growth of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant
Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes from around the world show that following initial importation largely from India, Delta spread in England was driven first by inter-regional travel and then by local population mixing.
- John T. McCrone
- , Verity Hill
- & Moritz U. G. Kraemer
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Editorial |
Preventive HIV drug shows urgent need for transparency on pricing
The drug cabotegravir could be a game-changer in the fight against HIV/AIDS — but we need to know why it costs so much.
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Article
| Open AccessDOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19
A genome-wide association study highlights a variant in DOCK2, which is common in East Asian populations but rare in Europeans, as a host genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19.
- Ho Namkoong
- , Ryuya Edahiro
- & Yukinori Okada
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Article |
Secreted fungal virulence effector triggers allergic inflammation via TLR4
Cryptococcus neoformans secretes CPL1 protein, which induces alternative activation of macrophages via Toll-like receptor 4 in mice and is essential for fungal virulence.
- Eric V. Dang
- , Susan Lei
- & Hiten D. Madhani
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Article
| Open AccessWastewater sequencing reveals early cryptic SARS-CoV-2 variant transmission
Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern were detected early and multiple cases of virus spread not captured by clinical genomic surveillance were identified using high-resolution wastewater and clinical sequencing.
- Smruthi Karthikeyan
- , Joshua I. Levy
- & Rob Knight
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News |
After COVID, African countries vow to take the fight to malaria
Donors pledge more than US$4 billion in renewed bid to cut new malaria cases by 90%.
- T. V. Padma
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Article |
Caspase-7 activates ASM to repair gasdermin and perforin pores
Caspase-7 cleaves and activates acid sphingomyelinase (ASM), which promotes the repair of gasdermin pores and thereby delays pore-driven lysis to allow other processes such as extrusion or apoptosis to occur before cell death.
- Kengo Nozaki
- , Vivien I. Maltez
- & Edward A. Miao
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Article |
Combination anti-HIV antibodies provide sustained virological suppression
Combination therapy of broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies can provide long-term virological suppression in individuals infected with HIV without antiretroviral therapy.
- Michael C. Sneller
- , Jana Blazkova
- & Tae-Wook Chun
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Innovations In |
HIV Care Has Improved Dramatically—But Not for Everyone
The HIV/AIDS crisis has lessons for the COVID pandemic and other health inequities.
- David Malebranche
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Article
| Open AccessLimited cross-variant immunity from SARS-CoV-2 Omicron without vaccination
Infection with Omicron after vaccination produces cross-neutralizing antibodies to other variants of concern, whereas this induces a limited response to non-Omicron variants in unvaccinated individuals.
- Rahul K. Suryawanshi
- , Irene P. Chen
- & Melanie Ott
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Research Highlight |
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes bite night and day
Conventional tools to prevent mosquito bites are no use against those that attack during daylight hours.
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Article
| Open AccessOmicron infection enhances Delta antibody immunity in vaccinated persons
A study quantifying the neutralization of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants in individuals infected with Omicron/BA.1 shows that vaccinated individuals previously infected with Omicron have enhanced protection against reinfection with current variants, \including Omicron/BA.2, while Omicron/BA.1 infected unvaccinated individuals have limited protection.
- Khadija Khan
- , Farina Karim
- & Alex Sigal
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News & Views |
From the archive: the link between mosquitoes and disease, and Mount Vesuvius erupts
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Article |
Inflammasome activation in infected macrophages drives COVID-19 pathology
A new humanized mouse model for COVID-19 demonstrates SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent activation of inflammasomes in human macrophages as a critical driver of disease.
- Esen Sefik
- , Rihao Qu
- & Richard A. Flavell
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Perspective |
Defining the risk of SARS-CoV-2 variants on immune protection
The SARS-CoV-2 Assessment of Viral Evolution (SAVE) programme provides a real-time risk assessment of SARS-CoV-2 variants with the potential to affect transmission, virulence and resistance to infection- and vaccine-induced immunity.
- Marciela M. DeGrace
- , Elodie Ghedin
- & Mehul S. Suthar
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Article |
Bacterial inhibition of Fas-mediated killing promotes neuroinvasion and persistence
Studies in a mouse model of neurolisteriosis show that the effector protein InlB produced by Listeria monocytogenes protects infected monocytes in the host from T cell-mediated cell death, and thereby increases bacterial neuroinvasion, persistence and transmission.
- Claire Maudet
- , Marouane Kheloufi
- & Marc Lecuit
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Nature Index |
African leadership underpins success of malaria drug trial
Urgent research to bolster disease defences demands equitable responsibility and ownership between partners.
- Mark Peplow
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Article
| Open AccessWhole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19
Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.
- Athanasios Kousathanas
- , Erola Pairo-Castineira
- & J. Kenneth Baillie
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Obituary |
Luc Montagnier (1932–2022)
Virologist who won a Nobel prize for discovering HIV.
- Heidi Ledford
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News Round-Up |
Earliest humans, HIV variant and breakthrough COVID
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
Highly virulent HIV variant found circulating in Europe
The mutated strain’s effects are more severe, and it is more transmissible — but drugs are still effective against it.
- Giorgia Guglielmi
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Article
| Open AccessT cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 spike cross-recognize Omicron
T cell responses to spike protein from the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) are broadly similar to the responses to ancestral, Beta (B.1.351) and Delta (B.1.617.2) spike protein in vaccinated, infected and unvaccinated individuals.
- Roanne Keeton
- , Marius B. Tincho
- & Catherine Riou
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Review Article |
Human genetic and immunological determinants of critical COVID-19 pneumonia
The COVID Human Genetic Effort examines the molecular, cellular and immunological determinants of the various SARS-CoV-2-related disease manifestations by searching for causal errors of immunity.
- Qian Zhang
- , Paul Bastard
- & Jean-Laurent Casanova
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Article
| Open AccessOmicron escapes the majority of existing SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies
A high-throughput yeast display platform is used to analyse the profiles of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) that enable escape from antibodies, and suggests that most anti-RBD antibodies can be escaped by the Omicron variant.
- Yunlong Cao
- , Jing Wang
- & Xiaoliang Sunney Xie
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Article |
Broadly neutralizing antibodies overcome SARS-CoV-2 Omicron antigenic shift
Pseudovirus assays and surface plasmon resonance show that the Omicron receptor-binding domain binds to human ACE2 with increased affinity relative to the ancestral virus, and that most neutralizing antibodies are considerably less potent against Omicron.
- Elisabetta Cameroni
- , John E. Bowen
- & Davide Corti
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Article |
SARS-CoV-2 infection in free-ranging white-tailed deer
More than one-third of wild deer tested in northeast Ohio showed evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection of human origin.
- Vanessa L. Hale
- , Patricia M. Dennis
- & Andrew S. Bowman
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Article |
Considerable escape of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron to antibody neutralization
An isolate of the Omicron variant of SARS-COV-2 was completely or partially resistant to neutralization by all nine clinically approved monoclonal antibodies tested.
- Delphine Planas
- , Nell Saunders
- & Olivier Schwartz
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Article
| Open AccessEnhanced fitness of SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern Alpha but not Beta
The Alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2 outcompetes progenitor SARS-CoV-2 in upper respiratory tract replication competition in vivo.
- Lorenz Ulrich
- , Nico Joel Halwe
- & Charaf Benarafa
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Research Highlight |
A fatty molecule shows promise for staving off HIV
When tested in monkeys, a lipid-rich molecule drove the concentration of an HIV-like virus below detectable levels.
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Article
| Open AccessMalaria protection due to sickle haemoglobin depends on parasite genotype
A strong association has been found between three regions of the Plasmodium falciparum genome and sickle haemoglobin in children with severe malaria, suggesting parasites have adapted to overcome natural host immunity.
- Gavin Band
- , Ellen M. Leffler
- & Dominic P. Kwiatkowski
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Review Article |
The emergence, genomic diversity and global spread of SARS-CoV-2
The potential origins and global spread of SARS-CoV-2, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and the importance of genomic surveillance for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.
- Juan Li
- , Shengjie Lai
- & Weifeng Shi
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Article |
Unrepresentative big surveys significantly overestimated US vaccine uptake
An analysis of three surveys of COVID-19 vaccine behaviour shows that larger surveys overconfidently overestimated vaccine uptake, a demonstration of how larger sample sizes can paradoxically lead to less accurate estimates.
- Valerie C. Bradley
- , Shiro Kuriwaki
- & Seth Flaxman