The RNA binding protein Sam68 controls T helper 1 differentiation and anti-mycobacterial response through modulation of miR-29

Role of Sam68 as an adaptor protein in inflammatory signaling

Sam68 is a ubiquitously expressed KH-domain containing RNA-binding protein highly studied for its involvement in regulating multiple steps of RNA metabolism. Sam68 also contains multiple protein-protein interaction regions such as proline-rich regions, tyrosine phosphorylation sites, and arginine methylation sites, all of which facilitate its participation as an adaptor protein in multiple signaling pathways, likely independent of its RNA-binding role. This review focuses on providing a comprehensive report on the adaptor roles of Sam68 in inflammatory signaling and inflammatory diseases. The insights presented here have the potential to open new avenues in inflammation research and justify targeting Sam68 to control aberrant inflammatory responses.

BCG vaccination policy and preventive chloroquine usage: do they have an impact on COVID-19 pandemic?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the light of its rapid global spreading, on 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization has declared it a pandemic. Interestingly, the global spreading of the disease is not uniform, but has so far left some countries relatively less affected. The reason(s) for this anomalous behavior are not fully understood, but distinct hypotheses have been proposed. Here we discuss the plausibility of two of them: the universal vaccination with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and the widespread use of the antimalarial drug chloroquine (CQ). Both have been amply discussed in the recent literature with positive and negative conclusions: we felt that a comprehensive presentation of the data available on them would be useful. The analysis of data for countries with over 1000 reported COVID-19 cases has shown that the incidence and mortality were higher in countries in which BCG vaccination is either absent or has been discontinued, as compared with the countries with universal vaccination. We have performed a similar analysis of the data available for CQ, a widely used drug in the African continent and in other countries in which malaria is endemic; we discuss it here because CQ has been used as the drug to treat COVID-19 patients. Several African countries no longer recommend it officially for the fight against malaria, due to the development of resistance to Plasmodium, but its use across the continent is still diffuse. Taken together, the data in the literature have led to the suggestion of a possible inverse correlation between BCG immunization and COVID-19 disease incidence and severity.

Is hydroxychloroquine beneficial for COVID-19 patients?

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in December 2019. As similar cases rapidly emerged around the world1-3, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020 and pronounced the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 20204. The virus has reached almost all countries of the globe. As of June 3, 2020, the accumulated confirmed cases reached 6,479,405 with more than 383,013 deaths worldwide. The urgent and emergency care of COVID-19 patients calls for effective drugs, in addition to the beneficial effects of remdesivir5, to control the disease and halt the pandemic.