OBJECTIVE: Globally, over 772 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported. New variants of interest with corresponding spikes in case numbers continue to be identified. Vulnerable patients, including older adults or patients with severe comorbidities, continue to be at risk. A large body of evidence has been accumulated regarding anti-SARS-CoV-2-antibodies and COVID-19 but the usefulness of antibody measurements remains unclear. This systematic review aims to assess the prognostic value of anti-SARS-CoV-2-antibodies and their usefulness for guiding booster vaccinations.
METHODS: Studies in English and published between January 2020 and October 2023 were included. Studies that relied on multiparameter-models or comprised fewer than 100 participants were excluded. PubMed and via the WHO COVID-19 research database, Embase and Medline databases were searched. Study selection and quality assessment was conducted independently by two researchers.
RESULTS: After screening 1,160 studies, 33 studies comprising >30 million individuals were included. Anti-SARS-CoV-2-antibodies were strongly associated with reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2-infection and better outcomes, including mortality. Risk of infection and COVID-19 severity decreased with increasing antibody levels.
CONCLUSIONS: Anti-SARS-CoV-2-antibodies are useful for early identification of high-risk patients and timely adjustment of therapy. Protective thresholds may be applied to advise booster vaccinations but verification in separate cohorts is required.

The Gag polyprotein is implied in the budding as well as the establishment of the supramolecular architecture of infectious retroviral particles. It is also involved in the early phases of the replication of retroviruses by protecting and transporting the viral genome towards the nucleus of the infected cell until its integration in the host genome. Therefore, understanding the structure-function relationships of the Gag subunits is crucial as each of them can represent a therapeutic target. Though the field has been explored for some time in the area of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), it is only in the last decade that structural data on Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) Gag subunits have emerged. As FIV is an important veterinary issue, both in domestic cats and endangered feline species, such data are of prime importance for the development of anti-FIV molecules targeting Gag. This review will focus on the recent advances and perspectives on the structure-function relationships of each subunit of the FIV Gag polyprotein.

This work builds upon the record-breaking speed and generous immediate release of new experimental three-dimensional structures of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) proteins and complexes, which are crucial to downstream vaccine and drug development. We have surveyed those structures to catch the occasional errors that could be significant for those important uses and for which we were able to provide demonstrably higher-accuracy corrections. This process relied on new validation and correction methods such as CaBLAM and ISOLDE, which are not yet in routine use. We found such important and correctable problems in seven early SARS-CoV-2 structures. Two of the structures were soon superseded by new higher-resolution data, confirming our proposed changes. For the other five, we emailed the depositors a documented and illustrated report and encouraged them to make the model corrections themselves and use the new option at the worldwide Protein Data Bank for depositors to re-version their coordinates without changing the Protein Data Bank code. This quickly and easily makes the better-accuracy coordinates available to anyone who examines or downloads their structure, even before formal publication. The changes have involved sequence misalignments, incorrect RNA conformations near a bound inhibitor, incorrect metal ligands, and cis-trans or peptide flips that prevent good contact at interaction sites. These improvements have propagated into nearly all related structures done afterward. This process constitutes a new form of highly rigorous peer review, which is actually faster and more strict than standard publication review because it has access to coordinates and maps; journal peer review would also be strengthened by such access.

A 39-year-old, homosexual, Caucasian man with a 9-month history of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome by reduced CD4 lymphocyte count alone was found to have extensive, asymptomatic, nonremovable, corrugated, white patches on the lateral borders and ventral aspects of the tongue typical of oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL). Histologically, irregular hyperparakeratosis, acanthosis, and clusters of ballooned keratinocytes in the stratum spinosum were present in the biopsied lateral tongue. Some of the superficial ballooned keratinocytes had peripherally beaded nuclei, whereas others had ground glass intranuclear inclusions. Ultrastructurally, the ballooned keratinocytes had three important findings of diagnostic significance. First, frequent herpesvirus nucleocapsids were largely confined to superficial ballooned keratinocytes having marginated and condensed chromatin. In searching for herpesvirus nucleocapsids, the marginated and condensed chromatin was an invaluable marker for cells harboring the virions. Second, the marginated and condensed chromatin frequently had a distinctive punched-out or cribriform appearance. Third, the ground glass intranuclear inclusion bodies consisted of central, medium electron-dense, finely granular material containing frequent herpesvirus nucleocapsids and partially surrounded or capped by prominent, clumped chromatin. The patient died with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy 24 months after OHL was diagnosed.