Chewing Away the Pandemic: The Breakthrough COVID-Neutralising Gum

As we continue to adapt to life with COVID-19, a new weapon in the fight against the pandemic is sticking its way to the forefront—literally. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have unveiled a chewing gum that can neutralize the COVID-19 virus in the saliva, potentially reducing the risk of transmission. This isn't just a fresh breath mint; it's a fresh perspective on pandemic control measures.

This novel idea comes from the laboratory of Henry Daniell at Penn’s School of Dental Medicine, who has been working on plant-based protein research long before the pandemic's onset. Their focus pivoted to our current global crisis, leading to a fascinating discovery: a gum that can tackle the virus where it's most prevalent—our mouths.
The science is impressive: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) proteins, grown in plants and extracted in the lab, are used to create this groundbreaking gum. These proteins are the virus's preferred host receptors in the human body, making them the ideal candidate for a COVID-19 countermeasure. Daniell's previous research on a hypertension treatment inadvertently set the stage for this innovative approach to viral defense.
The potential applications are exciting and far-reaching. For instance, in dental care, where procedures necessitate the removal of masks, this gum could serve as an extra layer of protection for both patients and healthcare providers. The pre-appointment chew could become a new routine, offering peace of mind along with dental health.
The implications extend beyond professional settings, with possible benefits for daily interactions, especially in those critical moments where social distancing is not possible. Furthermore, the accessible nature of chewing gum as a delivery system could serve as an alternative or complement to vaccinations, particularly appealing to those hesitant about vaccines.
Daniell's team has published data showing a significant decrease in the amount of the virus after using the gum. With a compelling combination of convenience and science, this chewing gum could soon become a staple in our collective toolkit against COVID-19.
It's rare to find a pandemic response that can be packaged so neatly and enjoyably—perhaps in the future in the delightful form of Dubble Bubble. It's this kind of innovation that makes the future of public health not only look promising but also, potentially, a little sweeter. Keep your masks on, your hands clean, and maybe soon, your chewing gum armed against COVID-19.

Had COVID? Part of the Virus May Stick Around in Your Brain

If you or someone you know is experiencing "brain fog" after COVID-19, scientists now have a possible explanation — and it might not bring much comfort.

Researchers in Germany found that part of the virus, the spike protein, remains in the brain long after the virus clears out.

 

These investigators discovered the spike protein from the virus in brain tissue of animals and people after death. The finding suggests these virus fragments build up, stick around, and trigger inflammation that causes long COVID symptoms.

About 15% of COVID patients continue to have long-term effects of the infection despite their recovery, said senior study author Ali Ertürk, PhD, director of the Institute for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the Helmholtz Center Munich in Germany.

 

Reported neurological problems include brain fog, brain tissue loss, a decline in thinking abilities, and problems with memory, he said.

"These symptoms clearly suggest damages and long-term changes caused by SARS-CoV-2 in the brain, the exact molecular mechanisms of which are still poorly understood," Ertürk said.

 

The researchers also propose a way the spike protein can get into the brain in their preprint report published online before peer review April 5 on bioRxiv.

Delivered by circulating blood, the spike protein can stay inside small openings in the bone marrow of the skull called niches. It can also reside in the meninges, thin layers of cells that act as a buffer between the skull and the brain. From there, one theory goes, the spike protein uses channels to enter the brain itself.

The hope is researchers can develop treatments that block one or more steps in this process and help people avoid long COVID brain issues.

 

'Very Concerning'

"This is a very concerning report that literally demonstrates the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the skull-meninges-brain axis in postmortem individuals," said Eric Topol, MD, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, CA, and editor-in-chief of Medscape, WebMD's sister site for medical professionals.

Having the spike protein accumulate in structures right outside the brain and causing ongoing inflammation makes sense to Topol. The clustering of spike proteins would trigger an immune response from this niche reservoir of immune cells that cause the inflammation associated with long COVID and the symptoms such as brain fog, he said.

 

Problems with thinking and memory after COVID infection are relatively common. One research team found 22% of people with long COVID specifically reported this issue, on average, across 43 published studies. Even people who had mild COVID illness can develop brain fog later, Ertürk and colleagues note.

 

So why are researchers blaming the spike protein and not the whole COVID virus? As part of the study, they found SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA in some people after death and not in others, suggesting the virus does not need to be there to trigger brain fog. They also injected the spike protein directly into the brains of mice and showed it can cause cells to die.

Researchers also found no SARS-CoV-2 virus in the brain parenchyma, the functional tissue in the brain containing nerve cells and non-nerve (called glial) cells, but they did detect the spike protein there.

Surprising Findings

Investigators were surprised to find spike protein in the skull niches of people who survived COVID and died later from another cause. Ertürk, lead author and PhD student Zhouyi Rong, and their colleagues found spike protein in 10 of 34 skulls from people who died from non-COVID causes in 2021 and 2022.

 

They also found COVID can change how proteins act in and around the brain. Some of these proteins are linked to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, but have never before been linked to the virus

Another unexpected finding was how close the findings were in mice and humans. There was a "remarkable similarity of distribution of the viral spike protein and dysregulated proteins identified in the mouse and human samples," Ertürk said.

Future Treatments?

Tests for protein changes in the skull or meninges would be invasive but possible compared to sampling the parenchyma inside the brain. Even less invasive would be testing blood samples for altered proteins that could identify people most at risk of developing brain complications after COVID illness.

It will take more brain science to get there. "Designing treatment strategies for these neurological symptoms requires an in-depth knowledge of molecules dysregulated by the virus in the brain tissues," Ertürk said.

THESE ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF CORONAVIRUS

As the deadly coronavirus 2019-nCoV spreads throughout the world, doctors are getting a better understanding of what symptoms and warning signs to keep an eye out for.

Some extreme cases involve patients coughing up blood or going into septic shock.  More typically, however, symptoms remain milder — potentially letting some cases slip under the radar and worsening the outbreak.

Like other coronaviruses, 2019-nCoV can cause pneumonia and other respiratory and cardiovascular conditions: coughing, fever, fatigue, and soreness. Because the outbreak is in the middle of flu season, that can make distinguishing between the two difficult.

As the disease progresses, it can cause more severe symptoms including difficulty breathing, kidney injury, and heart damage.

The virus is most dangerous for the elderly or people who are already sick — the mortality rate is substantially higher within those particular groups than the general population.

Screening for new cases is also difficult because 2019-nCoV patients can spread the disease while they remain asymptomatic for as long as two weeks — compared to most viral infections which cause symptoms within the first few days.

As 2019-nCoV, the coronavirus that emerged in China last month, continues to spread to over a dozen countries, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the elderly and chronically ill are at a greater risk than the general population.

The coronavirus can cause symptoms ranging in severity from fever and fatigue to pneumonia and septic shock. But older people, and people who were already sick before contracting 2019-nCoV, seem to be getting hit harder,