Inhibitory Activity of Honeysuckle Extracts against Influenza A Virus In Vitro and In Vivo

Virologica Sinica - Honeysuckle has been used in the treatment of influenza virus infection for thousands of years in China. However, its main active components and the functional mechanisms remain...     

Methamphetamine Reduces Human Influenza A Virus Replication

Methamphetamine (meth) is a highly addictive psychostimulant that is among the most widely abused illicit drugs, with an estimated over 35 million users in the world. Several lines of evidence suggest that chronic meth abuse is a major factor for increased risk of infections with human immunodeficiency virus and possibly other pathogens, due to its immunosuppressive property. Influenza A virus infections frequently cause epidemics and pandemics of respiratory diseases among human populations. However, little is known about whether meth has the ability to enhance influenza A virus replication, thus increasing severity of influenza illness in meth abusers. Herein, we investigated the effects of meth on influenza A virus replication in human lung epithelial A549 cells. The cells were exposed to meth and infected with human influenza A/WSN/33 (H1N1) virus. The viral progenies were titrated by plaque assays, and the expression of viral proteins and cellular proteins involved in interferon responses was examined by Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining. We report the first evidence that meth significantly reduces, rather than increases, virus propagation and the susceptibility to influenza infection in the human lung epithelial cell line, consistent with a decrease in viral protein synthesis. These effects were apparently not caused by meth’s effects on enhancing virus-induced interferon responses in the host cells, reducing viral biological activities, or reducing cell viability. Our results suggest that meth might not be a great risk factor for influenza A virus infection among meth abusers. Although the underlying mechanism responsible for the action of meth on attenuating virus replication requires further investigation, these findings prompt the study to examine whether other structurally similar compounds could be used as anti-influenza agents.     

冷适应减毒B型流感病毒疫苗候选株的制备及鉴定

以冷适应、温度敏感、减毒的B/Ann Arbor/1/66流感病毒株作为重配病毒骨架,对其6个内部基因片段进行了全基因合成,同时人工引入9个氨基酸突变．构建了8个基因的拯救载体,经测序获得序列准确的拯救质粒,命名为：pAB121-PB1, pAB122-PB2, pAB123-PA, pAB124-HA, pAB125-NP, pAB126-NA, pAB127-M和pAB128-NS．在成功拯救冷适应A型流感病毒的基础上,利用反向遗传学技术成功获救了具有感染性的重配B型流感病毒株,命名为rMDV-B．该重配病毒株以B/Ann Arbor/1/66为病毒骨架,其中HA和NA来源于2006～2007年当年流行株B/Malaysia/2506/2004．rMDV-B在鸡胚尿囊液和MDCK细胞中的HA效价可达1∶64～1∶512．实验结果暗示：从单一供体病毒株可以产生有效的减毒活B型流感病毒疫苗候选株,能够为将来人用流感疫苗的设计提供可借鉴的模型．     

反义寡核苷酸prop5在A549细胞内具有抗流感病毒活性

目的：研究硫代反义寡核苷酸prop5在细胞水平的抗流感活性及其作用机制。方法：cy3标记prop5用于考查人肺腺癌细胞A549对硫代反义寡核酸的摄取;利用实时荧光定量PCR检测流感病毒RNA拷贝数,Western印迹检测prop5对PDCD5蛋白表达和caspase-3蛋白剪切的抑制;利用间接免疫荧光和Western印迹检测prop5对病毒核糖核蛋白复合体（RNP）出核的影响;利用TUNEL检测prop5对流感病毒引起细胞凋亡的抑制作用。结果：流感病毒感染促进A549细胞摄取prop5;prop5下调感染病毒的A549细胞中PDCD5蛋白的表达,并能抑制流感病毒的复制;prop5抑制流感病毒引起的A549细胞的凋亡;prop5抑制病毒RNP出核。结论：prop5在细胞水平具有抗流感病毒活性,其作用机制可能同抑制RNP出核有关;本研究为进一步探讨宿主-病毒相互作用和抗流感药物开发奠定了基础。     

Influenza A Virus M2 Ion Channel Activity Is Essential for Efficient Replication in Tissue Culture

The amantadine-sensitive ion channel activity of influenza A virus M2 protein was discovered through understanding the two steps in the virus life cycle that are inhibited by the antiviral drug amantadine: virus uncoating in endosomes and M2 protein-mediated equilibration of the intralumenal pH of the trans Golgi network. Recently it was reported that influenza virus can undergo multiple cycles of replication without M2 ion channel activity (T. Watanabe, S. Watanabe, H. Ito, H. Kida, and Y. Kawaoka, J. Virol. 75:5656-5662, 2001). An M2 protein containing a deletion in the transmembrane (TM) domain (M2-del(29-31)) has no detectable ion channel activity, yet a mutant virus was obtained containing this deletion. Watanabe and colleagues reported that the M2-del(29-31) virus replicated as efficiently as wild-type (wt) virus. We have investigated the effect of amantadine on the growth of four influenza viruses: A/WSN/33; N31S-M2WSN, a mutant in which an asparagine residue at position 31 in the M2 TM domain was replaced with a serine residue; MUd/WSN, which possesses seven RNA segments from WSN plus the RNA segment 7 derived from A/Udorn/72; and A/Udorn/72. N31S-M2WSN was amantadine sensitive, whereas A/WSN/33 was amantadine resistant, indicating that the M2 residue N31 is the sole determinant of resistance of A/WSN/33 to amantadine. The growth of influenza viruses inhibited by amantadine was compared to the growth of an M2-del(29-31) virus. We found that the M2-del(29-31) virus was debilitated in growth to an extent similar to that of influenza virus grown in the presence of amantadine. Furthermore, in a test of biological fitness, it was found that wt virus almost completely outgrew M2-del(29-31) virus in 4 days after cocultivation of a 100:1 ratio of M2-del(29-31) virus to wt virus, respectively. We conclude that the M2 ion channel protein, which is conserved in all known strains of influenza virus, evolved its function because it contributes to the efficient replication of the virus in a single cycle.     

Virus Replication in Enucleate Cells: Vesicular Stomatitis Virus and Influenza Virus

The requirement of the presence of a nucleus for the replication of vesicular stomatitis virus and influenza virus has been examined by following the growth and development of these viruses in enucleate BS-C-1 cells. Vesicular stomatitis virus replicates normally in enucleate cells with the rate of production of infectious virus, the amount of virus-specific protein synthesis, and the type of proteins produced being essentially the same in nucleate and enucleate cells. Influenza virus does not replicate in enucleate cells, no virus gene products can be detected, and there is no inhibition of cellular protein synthesis.     

Swine Interferon-Inducible Transmembrane Proteins Potently Inhibit Influenza A Virus Replication

Human interferon-inducible transmembrane proteins (IFITMs) were identified as restriction factors of influenza A virus (IAV). Given the important role of pigs in the zoonotic cycle of IAV, we cloned swine IFITMs (swIFITMs) and found two IFITM1-like proteins, one homologue of IFITM2, and a homologue of IFITM3. We show that swIFITM2 and swIFITM3 localize to endosomes and display potent antiviral activities. Knockdown of swIFITMs strongly reduced virus inhibition by interferon, establishing the swIFITMs as potent restriction factors in porcine cells.     

Immunization with a Hemagglutinin-Derived Synthetic Peptide Formulated with a CpG-DNA-Liposome Complex Induced Protection against Lethal Influenza Virus Infection in Mice

Whole-virus vaccines, including inactivated or live-attenuated influenza vaccines, have been conventionally developed and supported as a prophylaxis. These currently available virus-based influenza vaccines are widely used in the clinic, but the vaccine production takes a long time and a huge number of embryonated chicken eggs. To overcome the imperfection of egg-based influenza vaccines, epitope-based peptide vaccines have been studied as an alternative approach. Here, we formulated an efficacious peptide vaccine without carriers using phosphodiester CpG-DNA and a special liposome complex. Potential epitope peptides predicted from the hemagglutinin (HA) protein of the H5N1 A/Viet Nam/1203/2004 strain (NCBI database, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"AAW80717","term_id":"58618438","term_text":"AAW80717"}}AAW80717) were used to immunize mice along with phosphodiester CpG-DNA co-encapsulated in a phosphatidyl-β-oleoyl-γ-palmitoyl ethanolamine (DOPE):cholesterol hemisuccinate (CHEMS) complex (Lipoplex(O)) without carriers. We identified a B cell epitope peptide (hH5N1 HA233 epitope, 14 amino acids) that can potently induce epitope-specific antibodies. Furthermore, immunization with a complex of the B cell epitope and Lipoplex(O) completely protects mice challenged with a lethal dose of recombinant H5N1 virus. These results suggest that our improved peptide vaccine technology can be promptly applied to vaccine development against pandemic influenza. Furthermore our results suggest that potent epitopes, which cannot be easily found using proteins or a virus as an antigen, can be screened when we use a complex of peptide epitopes and Lipoplex(O).     

Inhibition of Influenza Virus Replication by Nitric Oxide

Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to contribute to the pathogenesis of influenza virus-induced pneumonia in mouse models. Here we show that replication of influenza A and B viruses in Mabin Darby canine kidney cells is severely impaired by the NO donor, S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine. Reduction of productively infected cells and virus production proved to correlate with inhibition of viral RNA synthesis, indicating that NO affects an early step in the replication cycle of influenza viruses.     

Identification of a Highly Conserved Epitope on Avian Influenza Virus Non-Structural Protein 1 Using a Peptide Microarray

Avian influenza virus (AIV) non-structural protein 1 (NS1) is a multifunctional protein. It is present at high levels in infected cells and can be used for AIV detection and diagnosis. In this study, we generated monoclonal antibody (MAb) D7 against AIV NS1 protein by immunization of BALB/c mice with purified recombinant NS1 protein expressed in Escherichia coli. Isotype determination revealed that the MAb was IgG₁/κ-type subclass. To identify the epitope of the MAb D7, the NS1 protein was truncated into a total of 225 15-mer peptides with 14 amino acid overlaps, which were spotted for a peptide microarray. The results revealed that the MAb D7 recognized the consensus DAPF motif. Furthermore, the AIV NS1 protein with the DAPF motif deletion was transiently expressed in 293T cells and failed to react with MAb D7. Subsequently, the DAPF motif was synthesized with an elongated GSGS linker at both the C- and N-termini. The MAb D7 reacted with the synthesized peptide both in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and dot-blot assays. From these results, we concluded that DAPF motif is the epitope of MAb D7. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a 4-mer epitope on the NS1 protein of AIV that can be recognized by MAb using a peptide microarray, which is able to simplify epitope identification, and that could serve as the basis for immune responses against avian influenza.     

Immunization of Pigs with a Particle-Mediated DNA Vaccine to Influenza A Virus Protects against Challenge with Homologous Virus

Particle-mediated delivery of a DNA expression vector encoding the hemagglutinin (HA) of an H1N1 influenza virus (A/Swine/Indiana/1726/88) to porcine epidermis elicits a humoral immune response and accelerates the clearance of virus in pigs following a homotypic challenge. Mucosal administration of the HA expression plasmid elicits an immune response that is qualitatively different than that elicited by the epidermal vaccination in terms of inhibition of the initial virus infection. In contrast, delivery of a plasmid encoding an influenza virus nucleoprotein from A/PR/8/34 (H1N1) to the epidermis elicits a strong humoral response but no detectable protection in terms of nasal virus shed. The efficacy of the HA DNA vaccine was compared with that of a commercially available inactivated whole-virus vaccine as well as with the level of immunity afforded by previous infection. The HA DNA and inactivated viral vaccines elicited similar protection in that initial infection was not prevented, but subsequent amplification of the infection is limited, resulting in early clearance of the virus. Convalescent animals which recovered from exposure to virulent swine influenza virus were completely resistant to infection when challenged. The porcine influenza A virus system is a relevant preclinical model for humans in terms of both disease and gene transfer to the epidermis and thus provides a basis for advancing the development of DNA-based vaccines.