LONDON – Two papers published online in Nature following accelerated peer review provide fine detail of how the spike protein on the COVID-19 coronavirus binds to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) through which it infects its human host.

As organisms adapt to their environment, adaptations that serve them in their current environment can become liabilities if that environment changes. The control of traits that are an asset in one situation and a liability by the same gene is called antagonistic pleiotropy. In the March 16, 2020, online issue of Nature Genetics, researchers reported a method to systematically identify mutations that conferred antagonistic pleiotropy – in the form of resistance to one drug, but heightened sensitivity to another – in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: How the eye cleans itself up; In blood stem cells, selection drives driver mutations early on; Dead cells do tell tales; Selective TGF-beta inhibition helps checkpoint blockade; How lung tumors seed to brain; Butyrate affects regulatory B cells, rheumatoid arthritis; Lamin A/C’s presence in nucleus, absence from membrane both problematic in progeria; Females, males have different metabolic response to intermittent fasting; Ditching PAMs expands CRISPR.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Heparan sulfate DAMPens acetaminophen toxicity; Study links GABA, mitochondria, social defects; Recruiting NK cells to the antitumor battle; Potassium channel blocker improves motor learning in fetal alcohol syndrome; A20s inflammation-fighting properties decoded; Brown fat activity without fat browning; Agonists selectively wake up melatonin receptor subtypes; Multistep method wrests causality from GWAS; BET on BD1 for cancer, BD2 for inflammation.

LONDON – The extent to which existing DNA databases fail to reflect human genetic diversity is laid bare in the most geographically comprehensive sequencing initiative to date. The study applied the latest sequencing techniques to 929 genomes from 54 diverse populations around the world.

Undetected cases were a major driver of the early spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China, despite being less infectious on a case-by-case basis, according to a modeling study published in the March 16, 2020, online issue of Science.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: See in 3D; Tolerizing DCs are made, not born; GOF, LOF mutations take different paths to same result; NEFA’s nefarious role in pancreatitis; Comprehensive look identifies insulin autoantigens.

Like Berlin patient Timothy Ray Brown before him, London patient Adam Castillejo, whose case was top story of the 2019 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), energized the HIV cure research field by his sheer existence. Curing HIV, Pablo Tebas told the audience at a themed discussion on curative strategies, “has been considered [for] a long time the holy grail.”

CYBERSPACE – Continuing improvements in HIV treatment and progress toward a cure notwithstanding, an effective vaccine will be necessary to gain the upper hand in the decades-long fight against the pandemic.