Health challenges in the 21st century have become increasingly complex and global. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the many problems faced by health care systems around the world ...and sadly, exposed various flaws. With ageing populations, particularly in Canada, as well as unavoidable factors such as globalization and accelerating climate change, it is becoming imperative to implement a new health care approach based on intersectorality and interdisciplinarity. Furthermore, links must be forged between all the stakeholders, i.e. the researchers, the health system and its specialists, the communities and the individuals themselves. It is in this perspective, where everyone concerned must be equally involved in attaining a better quality of life, that the concepts of One Health and sustainable health must be deployed.
There is currently an ongoing worldwide pandemic of a novel virus belonging to the family of Coronaviruses (CoVs) which are large, enveloped, plus-stranded RNA viruses. Coronaviruses belong to the ...order of Nidovirales, family of Coronavirinae and are divided into four genera: alphacoronavirus, betacoronavirus, gammacoronavirus and deltacoronavirus. CoVs cause diseases in a wide variety of birds and mammals and have been found in humans since 1960. To date, seven human CoVs were identified including the alpha-CoVs HCoVs-NL63 and HCoVs-229E and the beta-CoVs HCoVs-OC43, HCoVs-HKU1, the severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV (SARS-CoV), the Middle East respiratory syndrome-CoV (MERS-CoV) and the novel virus that first appeared in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread to 213 countries as of the writing this paper. It was officially named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the international committee on taxonomy of viruses (ICTV) and the disease’s name is COVID-19 for coronavirus disease 2019. SARS-CoV-2 is very contagious and is capable of spreading from human to human. Infection routes include droplet and contact, and aerosol transmission is currently under investigation. It is associated with a respiratory illness that may cause severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). SARS-CoV-2 became an emergency of international concern. As of July 12, 2020, the virus has been responsible for 12,698,995 confirmed cases and 564,924 deaths worldwide and the number is still increasing. Up until now, no specific treatment has yet been proven effective against SARS-CoV-2. Since the beginning of this outbreak, several interesting papers on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 have been published to report on the phylogenetic evolution, epidemiology, pathogenesis, transmission as well as clinical characteristics of COVID-19 and possible treatments agents.
This paper is a systematic review of the available literature on SARS-CoV-2. It was performed in accordance with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and aims to help readers access the latest knowledge surrounding this new infectious disease and to provide a reference for future studies.
The severity of COVID-19 is influenced by various factors including the presence of respiratory diseases. Studies have indicated a potential relationship between asthma and COVID-19 severity.
This ...study aimed to conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genetic and clinical variants associated with the severity of COVID-19, both among patients with and without asthma.
We analyzed data from 2131 samples sourced from the Biobanque québécoise de la COVID-19 (BQC19), with 1499 samples from patients who tested positive for COVID-19. Among these, 1110 exhibited mild-to-moderate symptoms, 389 had severe symptoms, and 58 had asthma. We conducted a comparative analysis of clinical data from individuals in these three groups and GWAS using a logistic regression model. Phenotypic data analysis resulted in the refined covariates integrated into logistic models for genetic studies.
Considering a significance threshold of 1 × 10
, seven genetic variants were associated with severe COVID-19. These variants were located proximal to five genes: sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 1 (SCN10A), desmoplakin (DSP), RP1 axonemal microtubule associated (RP1), IGF like family member 1 (IGFL1), and docking protein 5 (DOK5). The GWAS comparing individuals with severe COVID-19 with asthma to those without asthma revealed four genetic variants in transmembrane protein with EGF like and two follistatin like domains 2 (TMEFF2) and huntingtin interacting protein-1 (HIP1) genes.
This study provides significant insights into the genetic profiles of patients with severe forms of the disease, whether accompanied by asthma or not. These findings enhance our comprehension of the genetic factors that affect COVID-19 severity.
Seven genetic variants were associated with the severe form of COVID-19; Four genetic variants were associated with the severe form of COVID-19 in individuals with comorbid asthma; These findings help define the genetic component of the severe form of COVID-19 in relation to asthma as a comorbidity.
Reactive oxidative species (ROS) are essential in cellular survival; however, excessive production and chronic exposure to ROS pose serious health threats. Excessive production of ROS is thought to ...play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of asthma, where exhaled levels of ROS have been found to positively correlate with disease severity. Autophagy is induced by ROS to remove oxidized proteins or organelles to minimize tissue damage, and presents itself as a good candidate pathway for investigation in asthma pathogenesis. Given the role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of asthma and disease severity, we hypothesized that autophagy is associated with asthma pathogenesis, and sought to detect its presence using both genetic and histological approaches. We found variant rs12212740, an intronic SNP of ATG5, to be associated with asthma and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV
1
) percent predicted in the French Canadian population and with FEV
1
in an American Caucasian cohort. Furthermore, double-membrane autophagosomes were more easily detected in fibroblast and epithelial cells from a bronchial biopsy tissue of a moderately severe asthma patient compared with corresponding cells of a healthy subject. Asthma is associated with a cytokine milieu e.g., interleukin (IL)-13 that promotes transforming growth factor-β1 (TGFβ1) affiliated airway remodeling, and agonistic relationships existed among these cytokines and ROS. Hence, autophagy may be a cellular mechanism that promotes TGFβ1 airway remodeling and loss of lung function in asthma.
Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is a central mediator of allergic (atopic) inflammation. Therapies directed against IgE can alleviate hay fever and allergic asthma. Genetic association studies have not yet ...identified novel therapeutic targets or pathways underlying IgE regulation. We therefore surveyed epigenetic associations between serum IgE concentrations and methylation at loci concentrated in CpG islands genome wide in 95 nuclear pedigrees, using DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes. We validated positive results in additional families and in subjects from the general population. Here we show replicated associations--with a meta-analysis false discovery rate less than 10(-4)--between IgE and low methylation at 36 loci. Genes annotated to these loci encode known eosinophil products, and also implicate phospholipid inflammatory mediators, specific transcription factors and mitochondrial proteins. We confirmed that methylation at these loci differed significantly in isolated eosinophils from subjects with and without asthma and high IgE levels. The top three loci accounted for 13% of IgE variation in the primary subject panel, explaining the tenfold higher variance found compared with that derived from large single-nucleotide polymorphism genome-wide association studies. This study identifies novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for patient stratification for allergic diseases.
Asthma is a complex trait, often associated with atopy. The genetic contribution has been evidenced by familial occurrence. Genome-wide association studies allowed for associating numerous genes with ...asthma, as well as identifying new loci that have a minor contribution to its phenotype. Considering the role of environmental exposure on asthma development, an increasing amount of literature has been published on epigenetic modifications associated with this pathology and especially on DNA methylation, in an attempt to better understand its missing heritability. These studies have been conducted in different tissues, but mainly in blood or its peripheral mononuclear cells. However, there is growing evidence that epigenetic changes that occur in one cell type cannot be directly translated into another one. In this review, we compare alterations in DNA methylation from different cells of the immune system and of the respiratory tract. The cell types in which data are obtained influences the global status of alteration of DNA methylation in asthmatic individuals compared to control (an increased or a decreased DNA methylation). Given that several genes were cell-type-specific, there is a great need for comparative studies on DNA methylation from different cells, but from the same individuals in order to better understand the role of epigenetics in asthma pathophysiology.
Exhaled levels of mediators associated with ROS positively correlate with asthma severity.1 Autophagy, the process of cellular waste disposal through lysosome-dependent pathways, is induced by ROS to ...remove oxidized proteins or organelles to minimize tissue damage.2 Although autophagy is augmented in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease compared with healthy control subjects,3 evidence for autophagy in asthmatic patients, particularly those with moderate-to-severe asthma, has not been reported.
SARS-CoV-2 infection causing the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been responsible for more than 2.8 million deaths and nearly 125 million infections worldwide as of March 2021. In March ...2020, the World Health Organization determined that the COVID-19 outbreak is a global pandemic. The urgency and magnitude of this pandemic demanded immediate action and coordination between local, regional, national, and international actors. In that mission, researchers require access to high-quality biological materials and data from SARS-CoV-2 infected and uninfected patients, covering the spectrum of disease manifestations. The "Biobanque québécoise de la COVID-19" (BQC19) is a pan-provincial initiative undertaken in Québec, Canada to enable the collection, storage and sharing of samples and data related to the COVID-19 crisis. As a disease-oriented biobank based on high-quality biosamples and clinical data of hospitalized and non-hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive and negative individuals. The BQC19 follows a legal and ethical management framework approved by local health authorities. The biosamples include plasma, serum, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and DNA and RNA isolated from whole blood. In addition to the clinical variables, BQC19 will provide in-depth analytical data derived from the biosamples including whole genome and transcriptome sequencing, proteome and metabolome analyses, multiplex measurements of key circulating markers as well as anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses. BQC19 will provide the scientific and medical communities access to data and samples to better understand, manage and ultimately limit, the impact of COVID-19. In this paper we present BQC19, describe the process according to which it is governed and organized, and address opportunities for future research collaborations. BQC19 aims to be a part of a global communal effort addressing the challenges of COVID-19.
Neutrophils and eosinophils are important sources of bioactive lipids from the 5- and the 15-lipoxygenase (LO) pathways. Herein, we compared the effectiveness of humans eosinophils and ...eosinophil-depleted neutrophils to synthesize 15-LO metabolites using a cocktail of different 15-LO substrates as well as their sensitivities to eight documented 15-lipoxygenase inhibitors. The treatment of neutrophils and eosinophils with linoleic acid, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and arachidonyl-ethanolamide, led to the synthesis of 13-HODE, 15-HETrE, 15-HETE, 15-HEPE, 14-HDHA/17-HDHA, and 15-hydroxy-AEA. Neutrophils and eosinophils also metabolized the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol into 15-HETE-glycerol, although this required 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol hydrolysis inhibition. Neutrophils and eosinophils differed in regard to dihomo-γ-linolenic acid and linoleic acid utilization with 15-HETrE/13-HODE ratios of 0.014 ± 0.0008 and 0.474 ± 0.114 for neutrophils and eosinophils respectively. 15-LO metabolite synthesis by neutrophils and eosinophils also differed in regard to their relative production of 17-HDHA and 14-HDHA.The synthesis of 15-LO metabolites by neutrophils was concentration-dependent and rapid, reaching a plateau after one minute. While investigating the biosynthetic routes involved, we found that eosinophil-depleted neutrophils express the 15-lipoxygenase-2 but not the 15-LO-1, in contrast to eosinophils which express the 15-LO-1 but not the 15-LO-2. Moreover, 15-LO metabolite synthesis by neutrophils was not inhibited by the 15-LO-1 inhibitors BLX769, BLX3887, and ML351. However, 15-LO product synthesis was partially inhibited by 100 μM NDGA. Altogether, our data indicate that the best 15-LO-1 inhibitors in eosinophils are BLX3887, BLX769, NDGA and ML351 and that the synthesis of 15-LO metabolites by neutrophils does not involve the 15-LO-1 nor the phosphorylation of 5-LO on Ser-663 but is rather the consequence of 15-LO-2 or another unidentified 15-LO.
(1) Background: Individuals with COVID-19 display different forms of disease severity and the upper respiratory tract microbiome has been suggested to play a crucial role in the development of its ...symptoms. (2) Methods: The present study analyzed the microbial profiles of the oral cavity and oropharynx of 182 COVID-19 patients compared to 75 unaffected individuals. The samples were obtained from gargle screening samples. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was applied to analyze the samples. (3) Results: The present study shows that SARS-CoV-2 infection induced significant differences in bacterial community assemblages, with Prevotella and Veillonella as biomarkers for positive-tested people and Streptococcus and Actinomyces for negative-tested people. It also suggests a state of dysbiosis on the part of the infected individuals due to significant differences in the bacterial community in favor of a microbiome richer in opportunistic pathogens. (4) Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 infection induces dysbiosis in the upper respiratory tract. The identification of these opportunistic pathogenic biomarkers could be a new screening and prevention tool for people with prior dysbiosis.
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