Journal: medRxiv

Article Title: SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Kaduna State, Nigeria during October/November 2021, following three waves of infection and immediately prior to detection of the Omicron variant

doi: 10.1101/2021.12.21.21268166

Figure Lengend Snippet: Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in Nigeria, 7-day rolling average, 4 March 2020 to 30 November 2021. (Source: Our World In Data .)

Article Snippet: The CE-marked Biopanda COVID-19 IgM/IgG Rapid Test Kit was used to screen serum for antibodies, following the manufacturers’ instructions.

Techniques:

Journal: medRxiv

Article Title: Polymorphism in IFNAR contributes to glucocorticoid response and outcome in ARDS and COVID-19

doi: 10.1101/2022.03.10.22272123

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A ) STAT1 expression in the lung after 4-day culture in the presence of IFN beta with or without hydrocortisone (HC). ( B) pSTAT1 expression in the same specimens as in A. ( C) Example photomicrographs showing higher STAT2 expression in a TT patient than in a CT patient and the effect of HC on its nuclear translocation. Most STAT2 remains in the cytoplasm of the CT patients, whereas nuclear expression is prominent in the TT patient. Indicated insets are shown in the bottom row. Arrows. ( D ) Combined results of all patients noting that two CT samples are excluded in the data as the patients were already under glucocorticoid treatment at the time of sample acquisition. Ns, not significant; *P<0.05; **P<0.01; and ***P<0.001

Article Snippet: The first stage antibodies were anti-alpha chain of the IFN alpha/beta receptor (St John’s Laboratory STJ112765) that was used 1:2000 and 1:5000 and anti-Stat1 (1:400, 9175S), anti-pStat1(1:100, 9167S) and anti-Stat2 (1:200, 72604S) all from Cell Signalling.

Techniques: Expressing, Translocation Assay

Journal: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

Article Title: Negative Modulation of B Cell Activation by Melanocortin 1 Receptor Signaling Protects against Membranous Nephropathy

doi: 10.1681/asn.2022050605

Figure Lengend Snippet: Figure 8. Loss of MC1R potentiates B-cell activation and en- hances autologous humoral immune responses in rats with PHN. (A) Animals were treated as elaborated in Figure 1F. Splenocytes derived from WT or KO rats with PHN were pro- cessed for flow cytometry analysis of CD1381 cells. (B) Arbitrary levels of sheep IgG-specific rat IgG in sera collected from WT or KO rats with PHN, as estimated by ELISA of diluted sera; aP,0.05 versus WT rats with PHN (n56). (C) Schematic diagram depicting the working model for negative regulation of B-cell activation by MC1R-mediated melanocortinergic signaling. As a typical G-protein coupled receptor, MC1R is expressed by B lympho- cytes and is able to trigger the cAMP signaling pathway on ac- tivation by diverse melanocortins, such as pan-MCR agonists like ACTH and NDP-MSH, or the selective MC1R agonist MS05. Subsequently, cAMP signaling downstream of MC1R activates MITF, one of the major signaling transducers of MC1R pathway and a critical regulator of a plethora of key cellular processes, including melanogenesis in melanocytes and cellular differenti- ation in nonmelanocytic cells. In B lymphocytes, MITF acts as a repressor of IRF4, a characteristic lymphoid transcription factor essential for B-cell development and maturation. MC1R-medi- ated melanocortinergic signaling suppresses B-cell activation and plasmacytic differentiation and reduces IgG production via the cAMP/MITF/IRF4 pathway, which could be intercepted by SQ22536, an adenylyl cyclase inhibitor. This MC1R-mediated B- cell regulatory signaling is defective in B cells with MC1R KO and could be partially restored by the cAMP mimetic dBcAMP.

Article Snippet: IgG levels in cell culture supernatants were detected by using a rat IgG ELISA kit (Aviva Systems Biology, San Diego, CA) according to the manufacturer’s instruction.

Techniques: Activation Assay, Derivative Assay, Cytometry, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay

Journal: Vaccines

Article Title: Evaluating the Compatibility of Three Aluminum Salt-Adjuvanted Recombinant Protein Antigens (Trivalent NRRV) Combined with a Mock Trivalent Sabin-IPV Vaccine: Analytical and Formulation Challenges

doi: 10.3390/vaccines12101102

Figure Lengend Snippet: Stability profiles of AH-adsorbed t-sIPV antigens (types 1, 2, and 3) in the presence and absence of different antimicrobial preservatives (APs) as measured by Sabin D-antigen competitive ELISAs. The relative antigen–antibody binding of each AH-adsorbed sIPV antigen to an antigen-specific antibody is shown as a percentage concentration relative to time zero values after storage at 2–8 °C and 15 °C for 3 months, and 37 °C for 1 day, for sIPV1 (Panels ( A , D , G )), sIPV2 (Panels ( B , E , H )), and sIPV3 (Panels ( C , F , I )) in the presence of the indicated AP. TH—thimerosal, 2-PE—2-phenoxy ethanol, PH—phenol, CB—chlorobutanol, MC—m-cresol, BA—benzyl alcohol, MP—methyl paraben, and PP—propyl paraben. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 4).

Article Snippet: Capture and detection antibodies used in the competition enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELISAs), system suitability controls, and reference standards were purchased from Batavia Biosciences (The Netherlands) for three sIPV antigens and Precision Antibody (Columbia, MD, USA) for the three NRRV antigens.

Techniques: Binding Assay, Concentration Assay