Interferon is the first line of innate defense against viruses infection. Interferon α1b is a major antiviral subtype of interferon family. SARS-CoV-2 have evolved several mechanisms to block interferon induction. Interferon α1b, has been approved for the antiviral clinical use for many years, showing strong in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Preliminary clinical studies including type I interferon have showed critical positive efficiency on COVID-19 treatment and prevention. A clinical trial with a larger cohort of infected patients that are randomized to treatment with interferon-alpha or to a placebo is ongoing.

Viral infection-related diseases pose a serious threat to human health. Current antiviral therapies cannot cure some diseases caused by chronic viral infections, such as AIDS and hepatitis B. Therefore, new treatment methods are urgently needed. Gene-editing technology that can directly target genetic material may become a powerful tool against viruses. As a new programmable nuclease-mediated gene-editing technology, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been successfully applied to the research of a variety of human-related diseases due to its high editing efficiency, simple operation, low cost, and wide application range. It also provides new technical means for the research of viral infection-related diseases and the development of new treatment methods. The mechanism of the CRISPR/Cas9 system and the latest advances in the treatment of common human viral infection-related diseases were reviewed in the article.

Self-amplifying mRNA vaccine is a versatile vaccine platform developed from alphavirus expression vector in which the viral replication genes are intact but those viral structural genes are replaced with antigen genes derived from pathogens. These vaccines have emerged as ideal modalities for rapid vaccine design, avoiding the problem of pathogen culture, reversion to pathogenicity and pre-existing immunity. Numerous studies demonstrated that these vaccines could be employed to induce humoral and cellular immune responses in human, mice, rabbits, pigs, avian and even fish. During the past years, focus has been on the use of recombinant single vectored self-replicating mRNA derived from the genome backbone of Sindbis virus, Semliki forest virus, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. Now trans-amplifying RNA and nucleotide modified trans-amplifying RNA vaccines have come into focus as promising next-generation technology platforms for vaccine development. An overview of recent advance in self-replicating RNA vaccines developed from alphavirus expression vectors was presented, with an emphasis on current state of SAM vaccine approaches against emerging infectious diseases, such as influenza A virus, SARS-CoV-2, and ZIKA virus, and provide perspectives on the future of this technology platform.

Objective: Preparation of positive quality control products with good thermal stability, resistance to RNase attack and full monitoring for RT-PCR detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Methods: The MS2 phage coat protein CP (including the PAC site) gene sequence and the mature enzyme protein A gene sequence (including the ribosome binding site) were amplified and inserted into the plasmid pET28a to construct the universal recombinant vector pET28a/CP-A. Synthesize a specific nucleic acid sequence containing ORF1ab gene, N gene and E gene of SARS-Cov-2, and insert it into the downstream of the PAC site, which is named pET28a/CP-A.The recombinant protein is expressed through the prokaryotic expression system, and purified by ammonium sulfate and gel filtration chromatography. The purified protein is physically characterized by electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The formed armor RNA is digested with omnipotent nuclease, and its thermal stability is verified by fluorescent RT-PCR. Results: A recombinant vector containing the MS2 bacteriophage coat protein gene, the mature enzyme protein gene and exogenous nucleic acid was successfully constructed. VLPs was efficiently expressed in the form of soluble protein at 25℃ and IPTG at 0.3mmol /L for 14h. After purification, The VLPs were observed under transmission electron microscopy in uniform shape and size,with a diameter of about 23-28nm. The VLPs were digested with Benzonase nuclease, and detected by RT-PCR, which confirmed that they formed armor RNA that encapsulated the target gene. The armor RNA can exist stably at 37℃ for 10-15 days under sterile conditions. Conclusion: In vitro, the armor RNA encapsulating foreign target sequence prepared by self-assembly of MS2 phage coat protein and mature enzyme protein has good thermal stability and can monitor the entire detection process. It can be used as a qualitative or quantitative quality control product for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR.

Breaking out in Wuhan, China at the end of year 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly spread around the world. It was listed as a “public health emergency of international concern” by WHO and has caused incalculable damage to human health and economic development. Humans are generally susceptible to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. In the lack of specific drugs and treatments, vaccination is the most effective and economical way to prevent and control COVID-19. At present, the vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are being developed in many countries, which work together to cope with the epidemic. This paper mainly reviews the research advances in the vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, i.e., inactivated vaccine, viral vector vaccine, genetic engineering recombinant subunit vaccine, and nucleic acid vaccine.

Currently, the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection is raging around the world and seriously affects human health. SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious, and the mortality rate of infected severe patients is high. Although various methods are being tried for clinical trials, no authorised effective treatment is available. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have attracted wide attention in preclinical trials because they have a good therapeutic effect on a variety of human diseases. MSC may use differentiation potential to induce differentiation into functional pulmonary-like cells, immune regulation interacted with various immune cells, inhibit inflammation to reduce the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, migration and homing to damaged lung, antiviral effects through reduce virus replication in lung epithelial cells, and produces extracellular vesicles to repair damaged tissues, thereby gradually recovering the lung function of COVID-19 patients, alleviating and achieving the goal for treating COVID-19. The basic characteristics of COVID-19 and the current main treatment methods of COVID-19 are comprehensively discussed. At the same time, the clinical research and current challenges are analyzed. In addition, the application prospects of MSC for treating COVID-19 are also discussed. In summary, the research provides a theoretical and practical basis for MSC in the treatment of COVID-19.

Coronavirus is a kind of pathogen that can cause respiratory and digestive diseases. At present, the understanding of coronavirus is not deep enough, and the similarities and differences between SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses in biological characteristics, infection mechanism, epidemiology and clinical characteristics are not clear. By summarizing the characteristics of several coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, and analyzes the susceptibility and prognosis of SARS-CoV-2 in special population, so as to provide reference for clinical research and differential diagnosis.

Objective: To establish a colloidal gold technique assay for the rapid detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and to evaluate its clinical performance. Methods: The colloidal gold was prepared by trisodium citrate reduction. The receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike protein and nucleocapsid protein (NP) were used as marker antigen. The nitrocellulose membrane was coated with mouse anti human IgM monoclonal antibody and mouse anti human IgG monoclonal antibody, and the detection reagent was prepared by using dinitrophenol-bovine serum albumin (DNP-BSA) and rabbit anti DNP polyclonal antibody as independent quality control. By comparing the clinical coincidence rate of RBD protein and NP protein, the better antigen was selected to prepare the detection reagent, and the performance of cross reactivity, interference reactivity, accelerated stability, specificity and sensitivity of clinical diagnosis were evaluated. Results: The total coincidence rate of RBD protein was 98.48% (389/395), and that of NP protein was 89.11% (352/395). There were no cross reaction with antibody positive samples of 13 common pathogens. Triglyceride, hemoglobin, bilirubin, rheumatoid factor (RF), human anti mouse antibody (HAMA) and antinuclear antibody (ANA) in the samples did not interfere with the test results. The kit was stable after 6 weeks accelerated at 50℃. The sensitivity of IgM was 78.31% (65/83), the specificity was 98.90% (721/729), the sensitivity of IgG was 92.77% (77/83), the specificity was 99.31% (724/729), the sensitivity of IgM and IgG combined detection was 92.77% (77/83), the specificity was 98.35% (717/729), the kappa consistency test had a kappa value of 0.883 0 (P<0.05). Conclusion: The 2019-nCoV IgM/IgG antibody detection reagent (colloidal gold method) has the advantages of high specificity and sensitivity, fast detection speed and portable operation, which can be used as a supplementary method for the existing 2019-nCoV nucleic acid detection method.

With their unique advantages of high affinity and high specificity, antibody drugs have played an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases, becoming the focus of international innovative drug research. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many research institutions and enterprises at home and abroad are in accelerated development of antibody drugs. In this situation, a systematic analysis of the status and trends of antibody drugs, the research progress of new antibody drugs for SARS-CoV-2, and the opportunities, challenges and suggestions for current antibody drug innovation in China is of great significance to promote the independent innovation of antibody drugs in China.

The outbreak of COVID-2019 has attracted the attention of the international community. This comprehensive review summarizes the research progress of the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of coronaviruses including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, which were extracted and compiled from the Cortellis report DISEASE BRIEFING: CORONAVIRUSES (published on January 30th, 2020), in order to provide reference for the scientific research of current epidemic situation.

In late 2019, a novel coronavirus caused febrile respiratory illness(COVID-19) in Wuhan. The continuous spread of COVID-19 in China and its surrounding countries puts forward a new demand for the prevention and control of this epidemic globally. A bibliometric analysis of the research on coronaviruses has been done in this research, and information related to the main countries, core institutions, key research fields were analyzed, which reveals the current research trends of the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of coronaviruses from a global perspective. The results will provide reference for the current joint research.

In December 2019, Wuhan, Hubei Province, an outbreak of pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) subsequently spread to all provinces and areas in China and many countries, that was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by WHO. It is important to understand and characterize the virus timely to fight with the epidemic. The papers on COVID-19 by the researchers from various fields around the world within two months after the outbreak were studied and found that these studies mainly focused on traceability analysis, detection methods, patient treatment, clinical manifestations, drug development, pathogenic mechanisms, transmission ways, epidemic characteristics. The coronavirus is closely related to bat coronavirus and pangolin coronavirus. It has the same human receptor ACE2 as SARS-CoV, and the infection pathway is confirmed to be the respiratory and digestive systems. The virus indicates person-to-person and asymptomatic transmission. Most of the confirmed cases of COVID-19 are related to Wuhan, and most cases are mild, the elderly have a higher mortality rate. Rapid and sensitive nucleic acid testing is usually used as a basis for diagnosis. Currently, valuable drug candidates such as remdesivir have been screened for clinical trials. Intervention measures such as travel bans and quarantine adopted have effectively reduced the spread of the epidemic.

Since the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019, the speed of diagnosis has been accelerated with the increase of virus detection. This is of great significance for the early treatment and isolation of coronavirus pneumonia patients and the control of the spread of the epidemic. In this paper, based on the patent information for quantitative data analysis, combined with qualitative research, objective display of coronavirus diagnosis technology research and development status. Through the patent application trend, protection market, important patentees, important patents and other dimensions, this paper shows the patent protection profile of coronavirus diagnosis technology, and predicts the future development direction, in order to support the innovation and research of coronavirus diagnosis technology in China.

Coronavirus is a kind of RNA virus which can infect human and animals. Coronavirus can cause severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a new strain which has never been found in human body before. The rapid transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has aroused the attention of governments all over the world and actively sought for vaccines. This report based on the panoramic patent in the field of coronavirus vaccine, comprehensively analyzed the development trend of patents, the output of major countries and institutions. At the same time, the report focuses on revealing the development and distribution of human related vaccines, as well as the research and development status of human related vaccine products. The report aims to provide references and implications for scientific researchers and decision makers in the field of Coronavirus Vaccine.

Antibodies play an important role in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases. With the continuous spread of pneumonia caused by the infection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2), it is urgent to research antibodies against the virus. The patent information was downloaded from the IncoPat database and the drug information was downloaded from the Cortellis database. Through the combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative research, the patent situation analysis in the field of human coronavirus could be obtained from various dimensions, including application trends, technology distribution, country or region distribution, organization distribution and market status. The results showed that the United States was the country with the largest amount of patent technology, and China was the main country of patent protection. Three Chinese organizations, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, entered the list of the global top ten organizations. The research on human coronavirus antibody products was mainly focused on SARS and MERS. In addition, some MERS antibodies entered the clinical stage. The results provide data reference and decision support for the research and development of Corona Virus Disease 2019(COVID-19).

Interferon has broad-spectrum antiviral, immunomodulatory and antitumor effects. Recombinant human interferon α1b is the first class I genetic engineering new drug with independent intellectual property rights in China. After years of research, a variety of dosage forms such as recombinant human interferon α1b injections and sprays for children and adults have been developed. A series of pharmacological, toxicological, pharmacokinetic and clinical studies on interferon α1b for the treatment of pneumonia such as coronavirus have been completed, becoming clinical consensus and guidance documents. According to these results, interferon α aerosol inhalation was recommended as the first anti-viral treatment of novel coronavirus caused pneumonia in multi-version of "National diagnosis and treatment of novel coronavirus caused pneumonia" released by National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, and achieved good medical effects. Recombinant human interferon α1b spray, as a drug that can prevent viral infections, is widely used in the biological protection of high-exposure populations such as medical personnel, which plays an important role in the prevention and control of the epidemic, and will make contributions to national health and biosafety.

The pneumonia epidemic caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) seriously threatens the health and life of the general public, and has a major impact on China’s economic development and social stability. Because the new coronavirus is highly contagious, spreads fast, and has a high lethality rate, there are no effective vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat it. A small number of patients have developed severe and critical illness or even died. How to accurately resist and block the progression of new coronary pneumonia, and improve the prognosis of patients is the current research hotspot in the medical and health field. This article reviews the recent advances in the latest treatments for pneumonia in severe and critically new coronavirus infections.