Creating Disease Through Gain Of Function: The Hazards of VERO cells

I did a detailed analysis of gain of function work being done that appears to have resulted in a pangolin SARS CoV2 like virus that destroyed the nervous systems of humanized mice (mice with human ACE2 receptors). This presentation focuses on the historical and present hazards of using monkey kidney cells to grow and maintain viral cultures.

1. Lethal Infection of Human ACE2-Transgenic Mice Caused by SARS-CoV-2-related
Pangolin Coronavirus GX_P2V(short_3UTR) Lai Wei, Shuiqing Liu, Shanshan Lu, Shengdong Luo, Xiaoping An, Huahao Fan, Weiwei Chen, Erguang Li, Yigang Tong, Lihua Song
bioRxiv 2024.01.03.574008; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.03.574008

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.03.574008v1?fbclid=IwAR0k3l0jEwe4wpEQvD1JwtuEyWXFoDkDRNIQ0SsXuYpEDfjx32uOQvjmtMg

2. Lu, Shanshan et al. “Induction of significant neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2
by a highly attenuated pangolin coronavirus variant with a 104nt deletion at the 3'-
UTR.” Emerging microbes & infections vol. 12,1 (2023): 2151383.
doi:10.1080/22221751.2022.2151383 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36453209/

3. Lam, Tommy Tsan-Yuk et al. “Identifying SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses in Malayan
pangolins.” Nature vol. 583,7815 (2020): 282-285. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2169-0
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32218527/

4. Liu, Mei-Qin et al. “A SARS-CoV-2-Related Virus from Malayan Pangolin Causes Lung
Infection without Severe Disease in Human ACE2-Transgenic Mice.” Journal of
virology vol. 97,2 (2023): e0171922. doi:10.1128/jvi.01719-22
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36688655/

5. Menachery, Vineet D et al. “A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows
potential for human emergence.” Nature medicine vol. 21,12 (2015): 1508-13.
doi:10.1038/nm.3985 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26552008/