Breakthrough|non-human primate new crown model

Due to the rapid increase in new cases, the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) quickly attracted global attention, and the pathogen was identified as SARS-CoV-2. As of now (July 7), according to real-time statistics released by Johns Hopkins University, there have been more than 11.74 million confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia worldwide and 540,000 deaths. These figures are updated every day and are expected to increase further. However, little is known about the kinetics of viral infection, replication and shedding.

On July 7, 2020, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other units cooperated. Shi Zhengli, Shan Chao and Yuan Zhiming published a joint communication in Cell Research online entitled “Infection with novel coronavirus ( SARS-CoV-2) causes pneumonia in Rhesus macaques” research paper, which shows that rhesus monkeys are sensitive to SARS-CoV-2 infection. After intratracheal inoculation, one day after infection (1 dpi), the first peak of viral RNA was observed in oropharyngeal swabs, mainly from the input of inoculation, while the second peak appeared at 5 dpi, which reflected the virus in the respiratory tract copy.

Histopathological observations indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause animal interstitial pneumonia, which is characterized by congestion and edema, as well as the infiltration of monocytes and lymphocytes in the alveoli. The study also identified SARS-CoV-2 RNA in respiratory tissues (including trachea, bronchi, and lungs). The virus was also isolated from oropharyngeal swabs, bronchi and lungs. In addition, this study proved that neutralizing antibodies produced by the primary infection can protect rhesus monkeys from the second round of SARS-CoV-2 attack. The non-human primate model established in this study provides a valuable platform for studying the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and evaluating candidate vaccines and therapeutic agents.

Due to the rapid increase in new cases, the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) quickly attracted global attention. The new coronavirus infection is believed to be transmitted from animals, and the pathogen has been identified as SARS-CoV-2. As of January 2020, it is suspected that the initially infected patient was infected with the virus through human-to-human transmission. Since January 2020, the virus has rapidly spread to most parts of China and other countries.

Due to the rapid increase in new cases, the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) quickly attracted global attention, and the pathogen was identified as SARS-CoV-2. As of now (July 7), according to real-time statistics released by Johns Hopkins University, there have been more than 11.74 million confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia worldwide and 540,000 deaths. These figures are updated every day and are expected to increase further.

Common clinical features of COVID-19 include fever, cough, myalgia, fatigue, dyspnea, lymphopenia, and pneumonia; less common symptoms include sputum production, headache, hemoptysis, and diarrhea. Due to the urgency of this situation, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Animal models are essential for studying the pathogenesis of viral infections, evaluating potential antiviral treatments or developing vaccines. Here, researchers report a non-human primate disease model of SARS-CoV-2. The study used SARS-CoV-2 isolated from clinical BALF to experimentally infect rhesus monkeys (RM), and studied the dynamic changes of SARS-CoV-2 in blood, swabs and respiratory tissues in infected RMs and Histopathological changes in the lungs. The study found that after intratracheal inoculation, one day after infection (1 dpi), the first peak of viral RNA was observed in oropharyngeal swabs, mainly from the input of inoculation, while the second peak appeared at 5 dpi, which reflects Virus replication in the respiratory tract.

Histopathological observations indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause animal interstitial pneumonia, which is characterized by congestion and edema, as well as the infiltration of monocytes and lymphocytes in the alveoli. The study also identified SARS-CoV-2 RNA in respiratory tissues (including trachea, bronchi, and lungs). The virus was also isolated from oropharyngeal swabs, bronchi and lungs. In addition, this study proved that neutralizing antibodies produced by the primary infection can protect rhesus monkeys from the second round of SARS-CoV-2 attack. The non-human primate model established in this study provides a valuable platform for studying the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and evaluating candidate vaccines and therapeutic agents.

Reference News:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0364-z