From multiple measles genotype D8 introductions in 2024 to sustained B3 local transmission in and around Milan, northern Italy, January to April 2025 Clara Fappani, Maria Gori, Silvia Bianchi, Lucia Tieghi, Daniela Colzani, et al. Eurosurveillance, 2025 An outbreak of measles virus genotype B3 is ongoing in Milan and surrounding areas since February 2025, with 27 cases identified in 32 laboratory-confirmed measles cases. Most cases were locally acquired and young adults. Phylogenetic analysis indicated the presence of a unique lineage closely related to strains circulating in Morocco. The lack of epidemiological links between several affected individuals suggests case numbers are being underestimated. The continuous transmission raises concerns about the potential re-establishment of endemic circulation in northern Italy.
The BETTER Project: Development of a tool for the measurement of SARS-CoV-2 via Internet of Medical Things POCT Fiore Capasso, Rosalba Pitruzzella, Ines Tavoletta, Chiara Perri, Luigi Zeni, et al. 2024 IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium Sas 2024 Proceedings, 2024 An Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) sensor system was proposed to detect Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). More specifically, a disposable sensor chip is realized by using a modified plastic optical fiber in order to excite the Surface Plasmon Resonance phenomenon useful to monitor the interaction between a specific molecularly imprinted polymer and the spike of SARS-CoV-2. The disposable chip is integrated into a portable and small-size system with a light source and a spectrometer to make the measurements at the patients' place, so a point of care test (POCT) connected to the Internet is realized. The acquired data are processed using a developed Windows-based application, and a dedicated software architecture was designed and implemented. This latter consists of a server in the cloud, a database, and a website. The proposed IoMT-POCT was developed and tested during the BETTER Project via approximately 1,000 positive and negative nasopharyngeal swabs in a universal transport medium. The results obtained through this sensor system were compared with those obtained using a gold-standard technique. A further potential of the proposed sensor system is the possibility of automatically performing a statistical analysis of the data provided, which is reported on the website.
Strigolactones as Broad-Spectrum Antivirals against β-Coronaviruses through Targeting the Main Protease Mpro Matteo Biolatti, Marco Blangetti, Melissa Baggieri, Antonella Marchi, Silvia Gioacchini, et al. ACS Infectious Diseases, 2023 The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the likelihood that new coronavirus strains will emerge in the immediate future point out the urgent need to identify new pan-coronavirus inhibitors. Strigolactones (SLs) are a class of plant hormones with multifaceted activities whose roles in plant-related fields have been extensively explored. Recently, we proved that SLs also exert antiviral activity toward herpesviruses, such as human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). Here we show that the synthetic SLs TH-EGO and EDOT-EGO impair β-coronavirus replication including SARS-CoV-2 and the common cold human coronavirus HCoV-OC43. Interestingly, in silico simulations suggest the binding of SLs in the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) active site, and this was further confirmed by an in vitro activity assay. Overall, our results highlight the potential efficacy of SLs as broad-spectrum antivirals against β-coronaviruses, which may provide the rationale for repurposing this class of hormones for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Targeting SARS-CoV-2 by synthetic dual-acting thiol compounds that inhibit Spike/ACE2 interaction and viral protein production Alessandra Fraternale, Marta De Angelis, Riccardo De Santis, Donatella Amatore, Sofia Masini, et al. FASEB Journal, 2023 The SARS-CoV-2 life cycle is strictly dependent on the environmental redox state that influences both virus entry and replication. A reducing environment impairs the binding of the spike protein (S) to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor (ACE2), while a highly oxidizing environment is thought to favor S interaction with ACE2. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 interferes with redox homeostasis in infected cells to promote the oxidative folding of its own proteins. Here we demonstrate that synthetic low molecular weight (LMW) monothiol and dithiol compounds induce a redox switch in the S protein receptor binding domain (RBD) toward a more reduced state. Reactive cysteine residue profiling revealed that all the disulfides present in RBD are targets of the thiol compounds. The reduction of disulfides in RBD decreases the binding to ACE2 in a cell-free system as demonstrated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assays. Moreover, LMW thiols interfere with protein oxidative folding and the production of newly synthesized polypeptides in HEK293 cells expressing the S1 and RBD domain, respectively. Based on these results, we hypothesize that these thiol compounds impair both the binding of S protein to its cellular receptor during the early stage of viral infection, as well as viral protein folding/maturation and thus the formation of new viral mature particles. Indeed, all the tested molecules, although at different concentrations, efficiently inhibit both SARS-CoV-2 entry and replication in Vero E6 cells. LMW thiols may represent innovative anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics acting directly on viral targets and indirectly by inhibiting cellular functions mandatory for viral replication.
