4 ms·

There are numerous reasons why we need a proper investigation into this. If this came out of WIV, we need to determine exactly why these bat coronaviruses were

There are numerous reasons why we need a proper investigation into this. If this came out of WIV, we need to determine exactly why these bat coronaviruses were being studied with regards to human ACE2. This ACE2 binding is causing numerous issues, including damage to human heart, lung, kidney, and pancreatic cell death. This is serious stuff. If anyone is looking at the "low" mortality rate, they are missing the big picture. Role of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in COVID-19 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356137/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356137/ The genetic structure of SARS‐CoV‐2 does not rule out a laboratory origin https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7744920/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7744920/ SARS-CoV-2 infects human pancreatic β-cells and elicits β-cell impairment https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00230-8 https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)...

dzhiurgis 5y ago
I'm flagging this obviously troll comment. ACE2 was part of mechanism of action of previous coronaviruses. Here's first search result for SARS and ACE2 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1287568/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1287568/
- thowaway959125 5y ago
  It's absolutely not a troll comment. I stand by the science and I would love any evidence of something like natural zoonotic spillover.
  - Dah00n 5y ago
    If you stand by it how about posting it from your main account at least instead of a throwaway?
- dang 5y ago
  You broke several of the HN guidelines with this. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules, we'd appreciate it. Your comment would be fine without that initial swipe. It should go without saying, but I'll add that I'm not at all commenting on which of you is right or wrong factually. But if you're the one who's right, then you should take better care with the truth, because stooping to cheap attacks discredits what you're saying, and one is responsible for how one handles the truth one's in possession of. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=truth%20discredit%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
  - ksec 5y ago
    Sometimes I just wish I could pay HN not for its bandwidth, content or its community but simply because of Dang's moderation. Thank You.
    - tailspin2019 5y ago
      Completely agree. Thanks dang, you help keep this place a truly special corner of the internet!
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
lamontcg 5y ago
HCoV-NL63 enters cells via ACE2 and only causes the common cold.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- thowaway959125 5y ago
  Very interesting. This is certainly a scientifically valid response. > Here we show that SARS-CoV, but not HCoV-NL63, utilizes the enzymatic activity of the cysteine protease cathepsin L to infect ACE2-expressing cells. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142358/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142358/
  - lamontcg 5y ago
    The vastly more likely significant differences are: 1. We don't (yet) inherit antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 from our mothers. 2. SARS-CoV-2 has not been forced to make evolutionary sacrifices to evolve to escape immunity. The virus has the freedom to become optimally bad and our immune systems were optimally naive. Over time the warfare between our immune system and the virus should cause SARS-CoV-2 to look a lot more like HCoV-NL63. That's a sufficient explanation of the differences in disease severity without having to troll through medical articles.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Dah00n 5y ago
>we need to determine exactly why these bat coronaviruses were being studied Why do we need evidence of why a lab would do research in viruses that is a danger to people in the country? It's pretty self-explanatory. ACE2 isn't specific to SARS-CoV-2 as your own links says.
koheripbal 5y ago
ACE2 binding is common among coronaviruses. This is neither unique to covid-19, nor uncommon generally.
giardini 5y ago
thowaway959125 says> "it would be great if we took this opportunity to actually end biological weapons research globally." The genii is out of the bottle so ending biological weapons research will never happen. If we aren't hit by a nation-state using biological warfare then we'll be hit by someone who does biochem in his garage for fun. The best strategy is to advance the research while taking such steps as creating super-vaccines to make this type of biowarfare obsolete: https://weather.com/en-IN/india/coronavirus/news/2021-04-21-scientists-invent-new-vaccine-that-can-fight-all-coronaviruses https://weather.com/en-IN/india/coronavirus/news/2021-04-21-... But that also moves us one step closer to the "grey goo" scenario: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_goo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_goo

dzhiurgis 5y ago

I'm flagging this obviously troll comment. ACE2 was part of mechanism of action of previous coronaviruses. Here's first search result for SARS and ACE2 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1287568/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1287568/

thowaway959125 5y ago
It's absolutely not a troll comment. I stand by the science and I would love any evidence of something like natural zoonotic spillover.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  If you stand by it how about posting it from your main account at least instead of a throwaway?
dang 5y ago
You broke several of the HN guidelines with this. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules, we'd appreciate it. Your comment would be fine without that initial swipe. It should go without saying, but I'll add that I'm not at all commenting on which of you is right or wrong factually. But if you're the one who's right, then you should take better care with the truth, because stooping to cheap attacks discredits what you're saying, and one is responsible for how one handles the truth one's in possession of. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=truth%20discredit%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
- ksec 5y ago
  Sometimes I just wish I could pay HN not for its bandwidth, content or its community but simply because of Dang's moderation. Thank You.
  - tailspin2019 5y ago
    Completely agree. Thanks dang, you help keep this place a truly special corner of the internet!
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]

lamontcg 5y ago

HCoV-NL63 enters cells via ACE2 and only causes the common cold.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
thowaway959125 5y ago
Very interesting. This is certainly a scientifically valid response. > Here we show that SARS-CoV, but not HCoV-NL63, utilizes the enzymatic activity of the cysteine protease cathepsin L to infect ACE2-expressing cells. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142358/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142358/
- lamontcg 5y ago
  The vastly more likely significant differences are: 1. We don't (yet) inherit antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 from our mothers. 2. SARS-CoV-2 has not been forced to make evolutionary sacrifices to evolve to escape immunity. The virus has the freedom to become optimally bad and our immune systems were optimally naive. Over time the warfare between our immune system and the virus should cause SARS-CoV-2 to look a lot more like HCoV-NL63. That's a sufficient explanation of the differences in disease severity without having to troll through medical articles.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Dah00n 5y ago

>we need to determine exactly why these bat coronaviruses were being studied Why do we need evidence of why a lab would do research in viruses that is a danger to people in the country? It's pretty self-explanatory. ACE2 isn't specific to SARS-CoV-2 as your own links says.

koheripbal 5y ago

ACE2 binding is common among coronaviruses. This is neither unique to covid-19, nor uncommon generally.

giardini 5y ago

thowaway959125 says> "it would be great if we took this opportunity to actually end biological weapons research globally." The genii is out of the bottle so ending biological weapons research will never happen. If we aren't hit by a nation-state using biological warfare then we'll be hit by someone who does biochem in his garage for fun. The best strategy is to advance the research while taking such steps as creating super-vaccines to make this type of biowarfare obsolete: https://weather.com/en-IN/india/coronavirus/news/2021-04-21-scientists-invent-new-vaccine-that-can-fight-all-coronaviruses https://weather.com/en-IN/india/coronavirus/news/2021-04-21-... But that also moves us one step closer to the "grey goo" scenario: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_goo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_goo