In vitro and in vivo efficacy of anti‐chikungunya virus monoclonal antibodies produced in wild‐type and glycoengineered Nicotiana benthamiana plants

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito‐transmitted alphavirus, and its infection can cause long‐term debilitating arthritis in humans. Currently, there are no licensed vaccines or therapeutics for human use to combat CHIKV infections. In this study, we explored the feasibility of using an anti‐CHIKV monoclonal antibody (mAb) produced in wild‐type (WT) and glycoengineered (?XFT) Nicotiana benthamiana plants in treating CHIKV infection in a mouse model. CHIKV mAb was efficiently expressed and assembled in plant leaves and enriched to homogeneity by a simple purification scheme. While mAb produced in ?XFT carried a single N‐glycan species at the Fc domain, namely GnGn structures, WT produced mAb exhibited a mixture of N‐glycans including the typical plant GnGnXF₃ glycans, accompanied by incompletely processed and oligomannosidic structures. Both WT and ?XFT plant‐produced mAbs demonstrated potent in vitro neutralization activity against CHIKV. Notably, both mAb glycoforms showed in vivo efficacy in a mouse model, with a slight increased efficacy by the ?XFT‐produced mAbs. This is the first report of the efficacy of plant‐produced mAbs against CHIKV, which demonstrates the ability of using plants as an effective platform for production of functionally active CHIKV mAbs and implies optimization of in vivo activity by controlling Fc glycosylation.     

胎盘Hofbauer细胞与HBV宫内感染

Hofbauer细胞起源于绒毛问质,是胎盘巨噬细胞,不仅能够吞噬入侵的病原微生物,参与母胎免疫反应;还可表达DC—SIGN、Fc等多种受体,这些受体分子可与乙肝病毒颗粒相互作用,使病毒通过跨膜转运进入细胞内。同时HofDauer细胞能够在母体间游走,当HBV感染Hofbauer细胞后,可借助HoPoauer细胞游走性介导HBV宫内感染。     

小鼠仙台病毒ELISA抗体检测规范化试剂盒的研制与应用

目的按照实验动物国家标准和农业部对于兽医诊断制品的要求研制小鼠仙台病毒抗体检测试剂盒,并在临床检测中分析其适用性。方法建立仙台病毒的种子批和BHK-21细胞的细胞库;标化仙台病毒生产工艺、抗原蛋白纯化工艺;优化ELISA反应板体系;标化质控血清。使用规范化的ELISA试剂盒对我单位672份送检血清样品进行检测,使用IFA和Western blot方法进行复检。结果病毒的种子批检验表明在-80℃保存半年以上毒力稳定;病毒生产和抗原纯化工艺的标准化提高了抗原生产的稳定性;对照体系的设定降低了环境等变量对于结果判定的影响。在对临床样本的检测过程中发现3种方法的灵敏度ELISA高于Western blot高于IFA。结论规范化的小鼠仙台病毒ELISA抗体检测试剂盒能对小鼠仙台病毒感染状况作出准确判断,具有一定的稳定性和结果可重复性。     

Oral Antibiotic Treatment of Mice Exacerbates the Disease Severity of Multiple Flavivirus Infections

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Assessing natural infection with Zika virus in the southern house mosquito,Culex quinquefasciatus,during 2016 in Puerto Rico

The epidemic of Zika in the Western hemisphere has led to intense investigations of all species important in the transmission of Zika virus (ZikV), including putative mosquito vectors. Although evidence points to Stegomyia (= Aedes) (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquitoes as the primary vectors in nature among humans, there remains the possibility that other common mosquito species may be implicated in the rapid spread of the virus. Herein, field‐caught Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) collected during June 2016 in different neighbourhoods in San Juan, Puerto Rico were examined for the presence of natural infection with ZikV. Stegomyia aegypti (= Aedes aegypti) from the same locations were also analysed. None of the Cx. quinquefasciatus tested showed natural infection for ZikV, whereas S. aegypti tested positive at seven sites. The present results suggest that Cx. quinquefasciatus was not involved in the transmission of ZikV in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2016.     

Restriction map of CELO virus DNA

A restriction map of chicken embryo lethal orphan (CELO) virus DNA was reported with ten restriction endonucleases (XbaI, XhoI, SalI, HindIII, EcoRI, BglI, KpnI, BamHI, PstI and SstI). CELO virus DNA was estimated by comparing CELO virus DNA fragments with marker DNA fragments to have a molecular weight of 29.3·10⁶.     

Employment of 4‐(1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl)phenol as a signal enhancer of the chemiluminescent luminol–H2O2–horseradish peroxidase reaction for detection of hepatitis C virus in real samples

Highly sensitive detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in serum is a key method for diagnosing and classifying the extent of HCV infection. In this study, a p‐phenol derivative, 4‐(1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl)phenol (4‐TRP), was employed as an efficient enhancer of the luminol–hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)–horseradish peroxidase (HRP) chemiluminescence (CL) system for detection of HCV. Compared with a traditional enhancer, 4‐TRP strongly enhanced CL intensity with the effect of prolonging and stabilizing light emission. The developed CL system was applied to detecting HCV core antigen (HCV‐cAg) using a sandwich structure inside microwells. Our experimental results showed that there was good linear relationship between CL intensity and HCV‐cAg concentration in the 0.6–3.6 pg/mL range (R = 0.99). The intra‐ and inter‐assay coefficients of variation were 4.5–5.8% and 5.0–7.3%, respectively. In addition, sensitive determination of HCV‐cAg in serum samples using the luminol–H₂O₂–HRP–4‐TRP CL system was also feasible in clinical settings. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Proteasome Inhibitor PS-341 Effectively Blocks Infection by the Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome(SFTS) is an emerging hemorrhagic fever disease caused by SFTSV, a newly discovered phlebovirus that is named after the disease. Currently, no effective vaccines or drugs are available for use against SFTSV infection, as our understanding of the viral pathogenesis is limited. Bortezomib(PS-341), a dipeptideboronic acid analog, is the first clinically approved proteasome inhibitor for use in humans. In this study, the antiviral efficacy of PS-341 against SFTSV infection was tested in human embryonic kidney HEK293 T(293 T) cells. We employed four different assays to analyze the antiviral ability of PS-341 and determined that PS-341 inhibited the proliferation of SFTSV in 293 T cells under various treatment conditions. Although PS-341 did not affect the virus absorption, PS-341 treatment within a non-toxic concentration range resulted in a significant reduction of progeny viral titers in infected cells.Dual-luciferase reporter assays and Western blot analysis revealed that PS-341 could reverse the SFTSV-encoded nonstructural protein(NS) mediated degradation of retinoic acid-inducible gene-1(RIG-I), thereby antagonizing the inhibitory effect of NSs on interferons and blocking virus replication. In addition, we observed that inhibition of apoptosis promotes virus replication. These results indicate that targeting of cellular interferon pathways and apoptosis during acute infection might serve as the bases of future therapeutics for the treatment of SFTSV infections.     

Efficient Establishment of Pig Embryonic Fibroblast Cell Lines with Conditional Expression of the Simian Vacuolating Virus 40 Large T Fragment

The pig is an important animal for both agricultural and medical purposes. However, the number of pig-derived cell lines is relatively limited when compared with mouse- and human-derived lines. We established in this study a retroviral conditional expression system for the Simian vacuolating virus 40 large T fragment (SV40T) which allowed us to efficiently establish pig embryonic fibroblast cell lines. The established cell lines showed high levels of cell proliferation and resistance to cellular senescence. A chromosome analysis showed that 84% of the cells had the normal karyotype. Transient expression of the Cre recombinase allowed us to excise the SV40T fragment from the genome. The development of this research tool will enable us to quickly establish new cell lines derived from various animals.     

Synthesis and biological activity of benzo-fused 7-deazaadenosine analogues. 5- and 6-substituted 4-amino- or 4-alkylpyrimido[4,5-b]indole ribonucleosides

Two series of new 4-aminopyrimido[4,5-b]indole ribonucleosides bearing phenyl or hetaryl group at position 5 or 6 have been prepared by Suzuki or Stille cross-coupling reactions employing X-Phos ligand with (het)arylboronic acids or stannanes. A series of 4-substituted nucleosides has been also prepared by Pd-catalyzed cross-couplings or nucleophilic substitution. Some of these compounds displayed moderate antiviral activities against HCV and dengue viruses.