Real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay on anal swabs was recently reported to be persistently positive even after throat testing was negative during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, data about the consistent performance of RT-PCR assay on throat and anal swabs remain limited in pediatric patients. Here, we retrospectively reviewed RT-PCR-testing results of 212 pediatric patients with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection at Wuhan Children’s Hospital. The diagnostic potential of these two types of specimens were showed significant difference (positive rate: 78.2% on throat swabs vs. 52.6% on anal swabs, McNemar Test P=0.0091) and exhibited a weak positive consistency (Kappa value was 0.311, P<0.0001) in pediatric patients. Furthermore, viral loads detected on both throat and anal swabs also showed no significant difference (P = 0.9511) and correlation (Pearson r = 0.0434, P = 0.8406), and exhibited an inconsistent kinetic change through the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Besides, viral loads in the throat and anal swabs were correlated with different types of immune states, immune-reactive phase, and the resolution phase/immunologic tolerance, respectively. These findings revealed that RT-PCR-testing on throat and anal swabs showed significant difference for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 infection and correlated with different immune state in pediatric patients.

Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease. Sinomenine is an alkaloid extracted from the rhizome of Sinomenium acutum. Sinomenine plays an important role in inhibiting skin inflammation. However, the mechanism and targets of sinomenine in psoriasis remain unclear. In this study, we found that sinomenine bound and inhibited the TOPK activity in vitro. Moreover, sinomenine inhibited TOPK activation ex and in vivo. Furthermore, sinomenine ameliorated the psoriasiform phenotype in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we determined that TOPK is a potential target of sinomenine to alleviate psoriatic skin inflammation and to provide new processes for clinical treatment.