COVID-19 Research

Scientists across the world are busy in the race for developing vaccines against the new Corona virus Covid-19. Researchers are trying to understand the disease at a molecular level to develop therapeutic interventions. Physiologically relevant cell culture models play a vital role in this context. Primary cells are excellent models for studying respiratory diseases. Cell lines have limited usage as they do not possess the characteristic donor features. Primary Cell culture offers the opportunity to understand lung disease mechanisms at a cellular level and to specifically target pathogenic processes using therapeutic compounds.

We at PromoCell have been focusing on the latest developments in COVID-19 vaccine research and development, including results of the first Phase I clinical trials and trying our level best to provide scientists with the necessary cell culture tools. Leading virology labs and pharmaceutical companies around the globe rely on PromoCell products for developing new strategies to fight COVID-19, and this work has already produced several publications.

We also provide essential tools to study e.g. interaction of SARS-CoV-2 and its ACE2 receptor in target cells in order to develop binding inhibitors useful as therapeutics.

In addition, recent in-silico scientific studies (Austin Nguyen et al, 2020) showed how individual genetic variation may help to explain different immune responses to a virus across a population. In particular, understanding how variation in HLA may affect the course of COVID-19 could help identify individuals at higher risk from the disease. HLA typing can be fast and inexpensive. Pairing HLA typing with COVID-19 testing where feasible could also improve assessment of severity of viral disease in the population. Following the development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, individuals with high-risk HLA types could be prioritized for vaccination.

PromoCell’s portfolio for COVID-19 research includes:

• Wide variety of characterized primary cells for respiratory research. Our respiratory portfolio includes wide variety of vascular and microvascular endothelial cells, airway epithelial cells from nasal mucosa, bronchi, small airways or trachea, Smooth muscle cells from bronchi, pulmonary artery or trachea and Pulmonary fibroblasts. We also have several diseased cell types from diabetes patients and wide variety of cells from COPD and Asthma patient.
• Optimized cell culture growth medium for each cell type

Leading virology labs around the globe rely on PromoCell products for developing new strategies to fight COVID-19, and this work has already produced several publications.

Here a selection of publications that have successfully made use of our PromoCell products:

• Giuseppe C et al. (2022) Molecular Cross-Talk between Integrins and Cadherins Leads to a Loss of Vascular Barrier Integrity during SARS-CoV-2 Infection: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/5/891
• Amri N. et al. (2022) Use of Early Donated COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Is Optimal to Preserve the Integrity of Lymphatic Endothelial Cells. 2022 Mar 17;15(3):365. doi: 10.3390/ph15030365.
• Good S. et al. (2021) AT-527, a double prodrug of a guanosine nucleotide analog, is a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and a promising oral antiviral for treatment of COVID-19 Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2021 Feb 8;AAC.02479-20 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33558299/
• Blume C. et al. (2021) A novel ACE2 isoform is expressed in human respiratory epithelia and is upregulated in response to interferons and RNA respiratory virus infection Nature Genetics volume 53, pages 205–214 (2021) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-020-00759-x
• Kaneko N. et al. (2020) Flow-Mediated Susceptibility and Molecular Response of Cerebral Endothelia to SARS-CoV-2 Infection STROKEAHA120032764. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.120.032764
• Idoia B et al. (2020) Antiviral Activity of Type I, II, and III Interferons Counterbalances ACE2 Inducibility and Restricts SARS-CoV-2 mBio. 2020;11(5): e01928-20. doi:10.1128/mBio.01928-20
• Lukas W et al. (2020) Alpha-1 antitrypsin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection
  bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.02.183764.
• Longlong Si et al. (2020) Human organs-on-chips as tools for repurposing approved drugs as potential influenza and COVID19 therapeutics in viral pandemics
  bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.13.039917
• Ali Rezaie et al. (2020) Ultraviolet A light effectively reduces bacteria and viruses including coronavirus. PLoS ONE 15(7): e0236199
• Miyashita L et al. (2020) Traffic-derived particulate matter and angiotensin converting enzyme 2 expression in human airway epithelial cells bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.15.097501
• Hoffmann M et al. (2020) SARS-CoV-2 Cell Entry Depends on ACE2 and TMPRSS2 and Is Blocked by a Clinically Proven Protease Inhibitor. Cell. 2020 Apr 16;181(2):271-280.e8.
• Lukassen S et al. (2020) SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are primarily expressed in bronchial transient secretory cells. EMBO J. 2020 Apr 4:e105114.