Project description:Emerging viruses are usually endemic to tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, but increased global travelling, climate changes and changes in lifestyle are believed to contribute to the spread of these viruses into new regions. For many of them, the disease symptoms are similar to each other, as well as to other more common diseases, making them difficult to diagnose. A rapid identification will help to decide about specific treatment and appropriate case management. Real-time PCR is commonly used for specific virus detection in clinical samples. A diagnostic microarray containing probes for all human viruses, could replace hundreds of specific PCR-reactions and identify all viruses by one assay and thereby remove the need for a clear clinical hypothesis. We show that the Microbial Detection Array successfully identifies emerging viruses present in both non-clinical and clinical samples. Fifteen clinical samples and 27 non-clinical samples (cell culture supernantants or purified viral DNA or RNA) were analyzed for presence of emerging viruses using the MDA microarray.
Project description:Emerging viruses are usually endemic to tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, but increased global travelling, climate changes and changes in lifestyle are believed to contribute to the spread of these viruses into new regions. For many of them, the disease symptoms are similar to each other, as well as to other more common diseases, making them difficult to diagnose. A rapid identification will help to decide about specific treatment and appropriate case management. Real-time PCR is commonly used for specific virus detection in clinical samples. A diagnostic microarray containing probes for all human viruses, could replace hundreds of specific PCR-reactions and identify all viruses by one assay and thereby remove the need for a clear clinical hypothesis. We show that the Microbial Detection Array successfully identifies emerging viruses present in both non-clinical and clinical samples. Twenty-four clinical samples and 40 non-clinical samples (cell culture supernantants or purified viral DNA or RNA) were analyzed for presence of emerging viruses using the MDA microarray.
Project description:Title : Characterization of genes differentially expressed in roots of transgenic arabidopsis lines expressing the p25 protein of beet necrotic yellow vein virus.<br> <br> Biological question : <br> Rhizomania ("crazy root") is a severe disease of sugar beet caused by beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV), which is transmitted by the soil-inhabiting fungus Polymyxa betae. Symptoms of virus infection are characterized by a constricted tap root and a massive proliferation of fine rootlets that often undergo necrosis. BNYVV RNA-3 encodes a 25 kDa (p25) which is an important determinant of leaf symptom phenotype. It also governs BNYVV invasion of the plant root system and induction of rootlet proliferation in sugar beet.<br> In order to obtain a better understanding of molecular aspects of disease development in roots and to characterize specific host genes involved in response to viral infection, transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressors of p25 viral protein was obtained and better characterized. It was shown that transgenic plants that efficiently expressed p25 protein produced more lateral roots. <br> Comparative analysis (microarray) was performed between wild type Arabidopsis roots and transgenic Arabidopsis roots expressing p25 protein, in order to identify Arabidopsis genes differentially expressed in response to p25 viral protein.<br> <br> Experiment description: <br> Seeds were surface sterilized, chilled at 4C for 4 days, and then germinated and grown on square Petri plates containing sterilized Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with 1% sucrose. Such stock plates were arranged vertically in plastic racks and placed into growth chamber. After 5 days, plants were transferred carefully onto fresh MS medium big round plates. On each plate, 60 Wild Type (WT) plantlets were transferred on the half right of the plate, and 60 transgenic plantlets (B, E or T lines) were transferred on the half left of the plate. Plates were arranged horizontally and placed into growth chamber. <br> <br>Experiment 1 : 5 plates containing WT0A control plants and B0A transgenic plants. <br> <br>Experiment 2 : 5 plates containing WT1 control plants and B transgenic plants. <br>5 plates containing WT2 control plants and E transgenic plants. <br>5 plates containing WT3 control plants and T transgenic plants. <br> <br>Plants were harvested after 7 days (experiment 1) or 12 days (experiment 2), and WT roots or transgenic roots were pooled and conserved at -80C.
Project description:We have designed and characterised antiviral PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (PROTACs) targeting the human protein cyclophilin A (CypA), a host cofactor for unrelated viruses including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). The PROTAC warheads are based on fully synthetic macrocycles derived from sanglifehrin A, which are structurally different from the classical Cyp inhibitor, cyclosporin A. Our Cyp-PROTACs decrease CypA levels in cell lines and primary human cells, and this degradation is via a PROTAC mechanism. These molecules have high specificity for CypA illustrated by proteomics experiments. Critically, CypA degradation facilitates improved antiviral activity against HIV-1 in primary human CD4+ T cells compared to the non-PROTAC parental inhibitor, at limiting inhibitor concentrations. Similarly, we observe antiviral activity against HCV replicon in a hepatoma cell line. We propose that CypA targeting PROTACs inhibit viral replication potently, and anticipate reduced evolution of viral resistance and broad efficacy against unrelated viruses. Furthermore, they provide powerful tools for probing cyclophilin biology.
Project description:Human and animal viruses possess remarkable capabilities in hijacking host processes to facilitate viral infection. Viruses use various strategies to target antiviral response mechanisms while promoting cellular phenotypic states that benefit viral replication. Viruses that replicate and assemble in the nucleus, including human pathogenic DNA viruses, need to balance maximal use of the host DNA replication machinery while at the same time avoid damage to the nucleus before generating a large number of viruses that will support the spread of infection. We have identified a novel mechanism of virus interference with the cell nucleus that involves virus-mediated modulation of nuclear mechanical properties. One of the most widespread human viruses, the JC polyomavirus, interferes with nuclear architecture to form virus-occupied space and substantially reduces the rigidity of the infected human cell nucleus. The JC virus's impact on nuclear rigidity is mediated by the viral nonstructural protein, Agnoprotein (Agno). The Agno interference with nuclear mechanics is governed by structurally diverse mimics of host proteins that support chromatin interaction with the key chromatin regulator, heterochromatin protein 1 alpha (HP1α), and is critical for JC virus infection in vitro. The ability to control chromatin organization and thus nuclear mechanics reveals a previously unknown virus strategy of hijacking the mechanism controlling nuclear physical properties to maximize virus production within the nucleus.
Project description:The paper describes a model on the key components for tumor–immune dynamics in multiple myeloma.
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This model is described in the article:
The Role of the Innate Immune System in Oncolytic Virotherapy
Tuan Anh Phan and Jianjun Paul Tian
Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine (2017) 6587258
Abstract:
The complexity of the immune responses is a major challenge in current virotherapy. This study incorporates the innate immune response into our basic model for virotherapy and investigates how the innate immunity affects the outcome of virotherapy. The viral therapeutic dynamics is largely determined by the viral burst size, relative innate immune killing rate, and relative innate immunity decay rate. The innate immunity may complicate virotherapy in the way of creating more equilibria when the viral burst size is not too big, while the dynamics is similar to the system without innate immunity when the viral burst size is big.
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Project description:Viruses are obligate parasites that depend on the cellular machinery for their propagation. Several viruses also incorporate cellular proteins that facilitate viral spread. Defining these cellular proteins is critical to decipher viral life cycles and delineate novel therapeutic strategies. While numerous studies have explored the importance of host proteins in coronavirus spread, information about their presence in mature virions is limited. In this study, we developed a protocol to highly enrich mature HCoV-OC43 virions and characterize them by proteomics. Recognizing that cells release extracellular vesicles whose content is modulated by viruses, and given our ability to separate virions from these vesicles, we also analyzed their protein content in both uninfected and infected cells. We uncovered 69 unique cellular proteins associated with virions including 31 high confidence hits. These proteins primarily regulate RNA metabolism, enzymatic activities, vesicular transport, cell adhesion, metabolite interconversion and translation. We further discovered that the virus had a profound impact on exosome composition, incorporating 47 novel cellular proteins (11 high confidence) and excluding 92 others (61 high confidence) in virus-associated extracellular vesicles compared to uninfected cells. Moreover, a dsiRNA screen revealed that 11 of 18 select targets significantly impacted viral yields, including proteins found in virions or extracellular vesicles. Overall, this study provides new and important insights into the incorporation of numerous host proteins into HCoV-OC43 virions, their biological significance and the ability of the virus to modulate extracellular vesicles.
Project description:This study explored the regulatory effect of D-mannose on host immunometabolic responses after viral infection. The results showed that D-mannose can compete with glucose for transporters and hexokinase, inhibiting glycolysis, reducing mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and succinate-induced HIF-1α, thereby reducing virus-induced inflammatory cytokine production. Even with delayed combinatorial treatment of D-mannose and antiviral monotherapy after viral infection, a synergistic effect was still observed in mouse models. Phosphomannose isomerase (PMI) activity determines the benefits of D-mannose, as simultaneous PMI depletion and mannose supplementation impaired cell viability. PMI inhibition can suppress replication of various viruses by affecting host and viral surface protein glycosylation. However, D-mannose does not inhibit PMI activity or viral fitness. In summary, PMI-centered therapeutic strategies can eliminate viral infections, while D-mannose treatment reprograms glycolysis to control collateral damage.