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Drug Development in the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 433

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Guest Editor
Department of Occupational Medicine, Local Health Authority, Lecce, Italy
Interests: occupational health; epidemiology; public health; shift work
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
2. Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, 00161 Rome, Italy
Interests: HIV; nutrition; probiotics; microbiota; immune response; gender; quality of life; NCCD
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Interests: hospital acquired infections; MDR infections; STD; special populations and migrants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Infectious disease (ID) control represents a focus of global health policy, as IDs are significantly associated with morbidity and mortality and are among the top leading causes of death worldwide. The emergence of new bacteria and viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, has been identified as a threat to global public health with a high economic and social burden. Although enormous progress has been made in knowledge, prevention, and antimicrobial therapy, minimizing the human and economic cost of IDs, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, was a special challenge for public health. To date, despite the availability of anti-infectious therapies, antimicrobial resistance threatens the efficacy of several current antimicrobial agents. In addition, the unclear pathogenesis and host-related adverse reactions hinder the discovery of novel anti-infectious therapeutics. The update on research advances in IDs focusing on mechanistic topics is pivotal in order to identify preventive and therapeutic strategies aimed at minimizing the impact of IDs. The research on the present topic is of particular interest, but at the same time challenging, since it deals with new horizons for infectious disease research.

Prof. Dr. Gabriele D’Ettorre
Dr. Gabriella D’Ettorre
Dr. Giancarlo Ceccarelli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • antimicrobial therapy
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • preventive strategies
  • precision medicine
  • drug development

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

8 pages, 745 KiB  
Communication
Could SP-A and SP-D Serum Levels Predict COVID-19 Severity?
by Luca Maddaloni, Veronica Zullino, Ginevra Bugani, Alessandro Lazzaro, Matteo Brisciani, Claudio Maria Mastroianni, Letizia Santinelli and Franco Ruberto
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(11), 5620; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25115620 - 22 May 2024
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Abstract
Given the various clinical manifestations that characterize Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the scientific community is constantly searching for biomarkers with prognostic value. Surfactant proteins A (SP-A) and D (SP-D) are collectins that play a crucial role in ensuring proper alveolar function and an [...] Read more.
Given the various clinical manifestations that characterize Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the scientific community is constantly searching for biomarkers with prognostic value. Surfactant proteins A (SP-A) and D (SP-D) are collectins that play a crucial role in ensuring proper alveolar function and an alteration of their serum levels was reported in several pulmonary diseases characterized by Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and pulmonary fibrosis. Considering that such clinical manifestations can also occur during Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, we wondered if these collectins could act as prognostic markers. In this regard, serum levels of SP-A and SP-D were measured by enzyme immunoassay in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection (n = 51) at admission (T0) and after seven days (T1) and compared with healthy donors (n = 11). SP-D increased in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy controls during the early phases of infection, while a significant reduction was observed at T1. Stratifying SARS-CoV-2 patients according to disease severity, increased serum SP-D levels were observed in severe compared to mild patients. In light of these results, SP-D, but not SP-A, seems to be an eligible marker of COVID-19 pneumonia, and the early detection of SP-D serum levels could be crucial for preventive clinical management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Development in the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19)
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