Posted on 01/31/2020 10:32:38 AM PST by winoneforthegipper
Abstract We are currently witnessing a major epidemic caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019- nCoV). The evolution of 2019-nCoV remains elusive. We found 4 insertions in the spike glycoprotein (S) which are unique to the 2019-nCoV and are not present in other coronaviruses. Importantly, amino acid residues in all the 4 inserts have identity or similarity to those in the HIV-1 gp120 or HIV-1 Gag. Interestingly, despite the inserts being discontinuous on the primary amino acid sequence, 3D-modelling of the 2019-nCoV suggests that they converge to constitute the receptor binding site. The finding of 4 unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV, all of which have identity /similarity to amino acid residues in key structural proteins of HIV-1 is unlikely to be fortuitous in nature. This work provides yet unknown insights on 2019-nCoV and sheds light on the evolution and pathogenicity of this virus with important implications for diagnosis of this virus
In guidance published on Thursday, the government said there is no effective anti-virus medicine but suggested taking two lopinavir/ritonavir pills and inhaling a dose of nebulized alpha-interferon twice a day.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-abbvie-hiv/china-testing-hiv-drug-as-treatment-for-new-coronavirus-abbvie-says-idUSKBN1ZP0QK
1. So Thursday would be a full week before the Indian paper was published.
2. And walking the timeline back further, think about how long it takes a government (particularly a top-down government) to actually publish guidance, from the time that someone figures out what the guidance should be. A week?
3. And if they supposedly found this treatment by trial and error rather than foreknowledge, how long did that process take? First they had to guess the right treatment and then they had to see some results. Another week, two?
4. So that means that someone either psychic, an incredibly good guesser, an absolutely amazing clinical doctor or .... they had a pretty good idea what was in that virus roughly a month before it was decoded.
I forgot those Chinese scientists in Canada were experts in HIV and Ebola. But the Canadian government “debunked” the notion that they stole anything from the Canadian lab.
“unknown insights” indeed.
Wang Guangfa on the condition: “An anti-HIV drug works well for me”
Published: 2020-01-23 20:52:29 | Source: China News | Author: Qing-only
China News Agency, Beijing, January 23 (Reporter Wu Qingcai) Wang Guangfa, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University First Hospital, and member of the expert group on pneumonitis associated with new coronavirus, revealed in an exclusive interview with China News Agency that there is HIV drugs worked for him. He was previously diagnosed with a new coronavirus-infected pneumonia and is currently undergoing isolation treatment.
Wang Guangfa, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Peking University First Hospital, and member of the expert group on pneumonitis associated with new coronavirus. For map
In a 50-minute interview with reporters, Wang Guangfa could not hear the difference from normal people except for occasional cough. During the interview, his attending doctor greeted him outside the door, and Wang Guangfa blurted out: “You are my life-saving benefactor.”
Wang Guangfa told reporters that this is because the doctor suggested that he use a drug called “lopinavirlitonavir tablets”, which is an antiviral drug for AIDS. This drug is effective in his case, but it is unclear whether it will be effective in other patients and follow-up observations are needed. Earlier, Zhong Nanshan, a well-known respiratory expert in China and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, once said that currently there is no specific medicine for this new type of pneumonia.
Wang Guangfa said that many patients generally need more than one to two weeks to gradually control and improve their condition. It took him only a day to get his temperature down. After three days of normal body temperature, he had to go through two tests. The most optimistic estimate is that he will be discharged from the hospital five days later. (Finish)
Thanks for clarifying. This thread was terrifying until your post.
Good stuff!
Oh this has merit, dont throw it out just yet.
A flu that became persistant (like HIV) in a portion of the population would be just as bad.
Some portion of the population would always be a carrier of a virus with 2% mortality. And shed virus wherever they went.
Have you seen the model of this spike protein vs. the ace2 receptor?
It’s like it was designed to fit exactly there. Much deeper, much less side chain disruption. Much better surface/surface interaction vs the spike protein of another coronavirus.
And the odds that it mutated, 4 times, and each time added (even a small) sequence that’s a homolog to another protein are astronomical.
Your conclusion makes a lot of sense. Just an intelligent guess on the Chinese part? That is indeed mighty suspicious.
The "Fact Checkers" are denying that the Chinese researchers in Canada had any involvement with the coronavirus. Yet Canadian Broadcasting Corp. published "Chinese researcher escorted from infectious disease lab amid RCMP investigation on July 14, 2019.
A researcher with ties to China was recently escorted out of the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg amid an RCMP investigation into what's being described as a possible "policy breach." Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, her husband Keding Cheng and an unknown number of her students from China were removed from Canada's only level-4 lab on July 5, 2019 CBC News has learned.Note this item in the article: "IT specialists for the NML entered Qiu's office after-hours and replaced her computer." That is extremely serious -- all microbiology these days is extremely computationally intensive and taking a researcher's computer is an extreme action. Unfortunately, she's smart and no doubt had backups of her work or it was stored in the cloud. You just cannot afford to lose all your work if your computer is lost, stolen, or taken away by your employer.Security access for the couple and the Chinese students was revoked, according to sources who work at the lab and do not want to be identified because they fear consequences for speaking out. Sources say this comes several months after IT specialists for the NML entered Qiu's office after-hours and replaced her computer. Her regular trips to China also started being denied.
At meetings on July 8, NML staff were told the researchers are on leave for an unknown period of time. They were told not to communicate with them.
Qiu is a prominent virologist who helped develop ZMapp, a treatment for the deadly Ebola virus which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014-2016.
She worked with Gary Kobinger, who is now a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and director of the Research Centre on Infectious Diseases at Laval University in Quebec.
Qiu is a medical doctor from Tianjin, China, who came to Canada for graduate studies in 1996. She is still affiliated with the university there and has brought in many students over the years to help with her work. Currently head of the Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies section in the Special Pathogens Program at the lab, Qiu's primary field is immunology. Her research focuses on vaccine development, post-exposure therapeutics and rapid diagnostics of viruses like Ebola.
She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba.
Cheng [her husband] also works at the lab as a biologist. He has published research papers on HIV infections, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), E. coli infections and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome.
The RCMP received a referral from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) on May 24. "Based on information received to date, the RCMP has assessed that there is no threat to public safety at this time," Robert Cyrenne said in an email to CBC News on Thursday.
PHAC is describing it as a policy breach and "administrative matter" and says the department is taking steps to "resolve it expeditiously," Eric Morrissette, the health agency's chief of media relations, said from Ottawa.
When asked for a response to the latest details, Morrissette said there would be no further comment "for privacy reasons."
"We can assure Canadians that there is absolutely no risk to the Canadian public and that the work of the NML continues in support of the health and safety of all Canadians," communications director Mathieu Filion said in an email Saturday.
A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency said the department will not confirm or deny whether anyone has been arrested or is under investigation. That information would only be public if charges are laid, Judith Gadbois-St-Cyr said in an email Thursday. No one from the Chinese Embassy could be reached for comment.
While there are few details available, experts say this could be a case of intellectual property theft or technology leakage to China.
"The National Microbiology Laboratory would have some pretty sensitive biological research material that ... could be shared either with or without authorization with foreign countries," said Gordon Houlden, director of the University of Alberta's China Institute.
"Canada is facing threats from foreign governments seeking to steal intellectual property and that could include state-funded research. The two big things I want to see is whether or not these individuals are charged with crimes by the RCMP ...that will give us a lot of information about what is really at stake here."
This isn't the first time police have investigated an incident at the lab. In 2009, a former researcher at the lab was convicted of trying to smuggle genetic material from the Ebola virus across the Manitoba-North Dakota border. The FBI is also investigating cases involving Chinese researchers in the United States.
There's a lot more here than they are telling us.
“A flu that became persistant (like HIV) in a portion of the population would be just as bad.”
That is darn right scary. So a person could get sick again if they do not stay on the Aids medicine.
“Have you seen the model of this spike protein vs. the ace2 receptor?”
Yes. I was looking at it yesterday at NCBI.
This virus is entering via ACE2, just like SARS and MERS. See
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.22.914952v2
It’s ludicrous and non-rigorous to single out similarity of amino acid sequences of small regions with HIV.
No reason to single out HIV from hundreds of other organisms that also have the same sequence.
“It’s ludicrous and non-rigorous to single out similarity of amino acid sequences of small regions with HIV.”
So the similarity could exist naturally in other virus too?
“Thanks for that info. Can you elaborate a bit more?”
Sure. Ask anything you want. Bottom line is the similarities they point out are not meaningful.
I’m not sure what they are trying to suggest, even.
This virus binds to the same receptor ACE2 and enters the cell just like the other Coronaviruses SARS and MERS.
ACE2 is highly expressed in lung capillaries which is why it causes respiratory problems.
“So the similarity could exist naturally in other virus too?”
Not only could, does.
100’s for sure.
Of course it enters ACE2.
It’s HOW this differs from other coronavirus homologs.
MUCH more efficient and elegant.
Not like picking the lock, like the key was designed for the lock.
“It’s HOW this differs from other coronavirus homologs.”
Nothing indicates there’s much difference.
Are you thinking this one has higher affinity or lower affinity for ACE2 than SARS or MERS?
Little bird tells me MUCH higher affinity for ACE2.
This is the stuff movies are made of.
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