2019-nCoV - Towards a 4th generation vaccine

Abstract

The first report of the unusual manifestation of pneumonia-like symptoms in Wuhan City, China was made on 31 December 2019. Within one week, the Chinese authorities reported that they had identified the causative agent as a new member of the Coronavirus family, the same family of that was responsible for MERS and SARS not so many years ago. The new virus was called Novel Coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV). Three weeks later, the World Health Organization declared that 2019-nCoV was capable of direct human-to-human transmission, the virus had spread across several countries in three continents, and had infected close to two thousand people, of whom at least 1 in 5 quite severely. The number of fatalities was fast rising. Yet, the World Health Organization officially announced that there is still at present no recommended anti-nCoV vaccine for subject at-risk, nor treatment for patients with suspected or confirmed nCoV, let alone 2019-nCov. It is therefore timely and critical to propose new possible and practical approaches for preventive interventions for subjects at-risk, and for treatment of patients afflicted with 2019-nCov-induced disease (Corona Virus Disease 2019; COVID-19) before the present situation explodes into a worldwide pandemic. One such potential clinical protocol is proposed as a hypothesis.

Keywords: Angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2); Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS); Novel Coronavirus (emerged late) 2019 (2019-nCoV Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19); Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS); transcription regulatory networks (TRNs) Corona virus (CoV).

Figure 1

2019-nCoV Infection, China (data from BNO News, The Netherlands; bnonews.com) Confirmed Infection Cases-Fatalities Percent in China